YES. It stays with you for life. It will come up on every fingerprint check any agency does on you. There is no way around it. I am 100% positive. If you don’t tell the new agency your applying too as soon as they run your fingerprints you are going to get caught and DQ'd for lying. As was previously stated your fingerprints will follow you to every single law enforcement agency in the United States you ever apply to.

You have just discovered proof that the people on this board are full of shit.  And you will find that George, Anonymous, and Triple Excrement are the biggest bullshitters in this group of bullshitters.

Thank you, I'm going to need the luck.

Honesty isn't always the best policy.  I don't drink, smoke and have never done drugs. I am a good person.  I earned a B.A. in law enforcement.  When I first started testing, they said I lacked life experience.  As I tested more and got my degree, my scores got better and my interview skills did too. I graduated with a 90% grade point average.  I eat, sleep, drink, breathe police officer. I have no criminal history and basically have a perfect background except for the fact that I've tested with too many agencies (over 50 times- some repeated).  In a mid size department (with less than 200 officers) I can score in the top 10 most of the time.

When I tested with L.A. , they passed me, but when the information came back from the example I gave  above, they failed me on the pyschological for whatever reason, which to this day still haunts my endeavors.  A couple of other agencies I've tested with had background investigators that really could have cared less if I got hired.  I have passed 3 backgrounds, 8 polygraphs, 3 psychologicals.  When I test with agencies, they look my long list of agencies I 've tested with, and I know they think I'm a reject or something.  Testing became kind of a hobby when I was younger; I wish I never tested as much as I did.  The funny thing is that most LE officers and techers said just keep testing and that's exactly what I did. I decided to try the honesty approach one last time with an agency I tested with last year. I was their #3 guy and everything was going fine. They asked me to write a letter explaining my expereinces with the agencies, which was a 7 page explanation letter of my experiences with various departments and why I thought they didn't hire me.  Guess what their reply was. You're a nice guy, but our Chief is looking for squeeky clean people.  And my official denial letter said: Thank you for testing, but there were other higher qualified candidates, which is total b.s.!

So whoever said honesty is the best policy probably didn't get anywhere.  I truly feel that by omitting some of the agencies I've tested with will open the door to law enforcment for me.  This is something I really want to do, and it's been 10 years and I'm still standing here hoping that I get hired.  I do somewhat feel bad about omitting this tiny fact but I know if I don't, I won't have my career.  I don't want to go through life thinking should have, could have, would have.  Everytime I see a police officer, my heart sinks because I think that should be me.

Besides, what is it to them that I tested with another agency?  It was my time and my efforts. As long as I didn't do anything wrong, it's none of their business.  They could do their own background instead of being lazy and asking other people who didn't do their job well in the first place.  So that's that.  No more Mr. Nice Guy.  As the saying goes: nice guys do finish last (NO MORE)  And I'm going to do whatever I can to get hired>

spruceland wrote on May 18^th, 2004 at 3:03am:


Holy cow!!  Over 50 agencies, repeatedly???  How did you deal with all the paperwork?  I was worn out after applying to two different agencies with all the paperwork, personal history statements, etc.   

Maybe some of the police departments in question felt that you didn't have a clue what you really wanted after seeing that you applied to 50+ departments.  However, that in itself shouldn't have DQ'ed you from any particular agency. 

spruceland wrote on May 18^th, 2004 at 3:03am:


I am just one person with an opinion here, but I feel that if you lie about the other agencies that you applied to, you WILL get caught, and that open door to law enforcement will become closed and locked.

spruceland wrote on May 18^th, 2004 at 3:03am:


Wrong.  It's their business because you are applying to their agency, and they want to know.  Maybe the question is nothing more than an integrity check.  If you get caught in a bold faced lie like this, you won't have any integrity in their eyes, and you definitely won't get the job.

spruceland wrote on May 18^th, 2004 at 3:03am:


Spruceland, I don't think that the attitude displayed above is going to win any hearts and minds in the police department's Background Investigator's office.  Hopefully, that attitude won't show when you are conducting your interview.

I have one question for you......were you offered a job by ANY of the 50+ agencies that you applied? 

Regards,

Kona

Thanks guys,

I received a conditional offer of employment around 5-6 times.  I actually smile and throw that letter in my drawer when it comes in the mail because there's always something that messes it up. I call it the "Al Bundy" syndrome.   

I have actually TESTED a total of around 45 times.  Many of those times, I didn't get a history packet nor did I not score high enough to continue. As I tested more, I got better (remember this is a period of 10 years).  One agency I tested 5 times with, another 6 agencies I tested 3 times times over, and a couple of others twice. And the rest were different cities and a couple out of state.  I received a background packet around twelve-fourteen times (a lot of those times, I was not competitive enough and my name just expired from the list with no further action), and have been finger printed by eight different agencies.  Since I earned my B.A. four years ago, I have only tested  a total of 3 times and have ranked pretty high, but sure enough that one background investigators comments are messing me up, even when I explain what happened.

I am really hoping you guys are wrong and am thinking about chancing it, OR waiting a couple of years and earning my MBA and then applying and explaining.  I guess I have a decision to make.   

Thank you all!

spruceland wrote on May 18^th, 2004 at 8:41am:


Did you ever follow up on any of these conditional offers of employment, or did you just blow them off?  After you've been given a conditional offer, usually the only things that can mess things up are the psychological exam or the physical exam.  What happened?

spruceland wrote on May 18^th, 2004 at 8:41am:


You can hope all you want, but I'm going on the record here that if you "forget" to list your prior police dept applications, you will get caught in a lie/omission and be DQ'ed.   

Also, earning a MBA, while admirable, isn't going to make you more competitive for a police officer recruit job.  You already have much more than the requisite education for the job, and should concentrate on following through with the process.

Best of luck in your decision.

Kona

What if you applied to an agency and was dq'd but not fingerprinted?