billman,


I am not sure why you would want to apply for so many departments (25), as I cannot imagine actually filling out 25 applications and background packets and still being able to wrtie or keep my sanity.   

The reality of it is that the more you apply the worst it will look.  People tend to assume and generalize and the general assumption may be that 1) you are indecisive and will more than likely use their department as a stepping stone  2) This is probably most important and that is that their is "something" in your past that is preventing you from getting hired on with the departments you applied for or that makes you undesirable.


While some departments do actually share the info they collect on you during the BI, many also do not and therein lies the problem.  The department may feel that the other department discovered something about you and that is why you did not get hired.   

Failing a polygraph for a department may be very detrimental.  I had never failed a polygraph, but had received inconclusive results.  It amazed me how when I applied for departments (many of which DID NOT polygraph) the issue came up during the BI or the OB and their general attitude was that I had FAILED the polygraph and had to explain myself to them.  I got real bad migraines attempting to explain to these people that an inconclusive result was not a failure and utlimately did not get hired on with them.  This I attribute to the "inconclusive" result which left doubt in their minds about my integrity as they assumed a polygraph was never wrong and that anything but a passing grade meant you were hiding something.

In my life I have worked for 4 different departments and had very good experiences with each of them.  I would say that I probably applied for a little over 12 departments in my life and am VERY tired of filling out packets and going through background investigations.  All in all, I would say I applied to too many departments and most of the time really had no intention of relocating or working for some of them.  25 is way too many.   

Best advice I can give you is pick 5 departments you really want to work for and apply there and give each of them 100%. Taking a polygraph sucks and can potentially ruin your chances of getting hired in LE, so I would tread softly on applying with departments that do.  While I never failed a poly, I think if I had failed one in the past, it may have affected the opinion of the polygrapher for the polygraph I eventually passed, as I know my inconclusive had an effect on all my polygraphs as I received more than one inconclusive after that first one.

It is a risk you are going to have to take and a decision you will have to make on your own.  Remember, there are many departments that do not polygraph yet and I would more than likely stick with those before taking the chance of having a failed polygraph haunt you.