"Have you ever sold illegal drugs?"

[PPrisoner]

I am a young man considering application to several local police departments.  For my whole life I have been very interested in law enforcement and police work, however during high school I made some mistakes.  I fell into the wrong crowd and became involved with marijuana off and on for about one year.  During that year, three or four times I sold small amounts of the drug to a friend.  I made no profit off of these transactions, however I did "sell" the drug to my friend.  Will anwsering in the affirmative to the common polygraph question "Have you ever sold illegal drugs?" result in my automatic dismisal from most police departments?  Thanks for your time.

[PPrisoner]

Does anyone know a general rule on this that most departments abide by?  Past experience?

[Sergeant1107]

PPrisoner,

In my opinion you have little chance of getting hired.  What you did will be considered "selling drugs" which is, unfortunately for you, an automatic disqualifier for every agency I know of.

Your application will be judged side-by-side with a number of other applicants who have most or all of whatever assets you possess but who have never sold drugs at all, whether in high school or after, whether for profit or not.

[PPrisoner]

But I do have other assets, such as fluency in spanish and excellent college grades.  Plus I have a true desire to be there, something that not all applicants can say.  But who knows.  I just wish I hadn't made those decisions.  

[reyboricua21]

I have the same problem , i am in the Army but i want to be a Police Officer , i always wanted to be but i am scared of the polygraph, i made some mistakes when i was younger and know i am paying for them , i have good education , sspeak spanish, and i love to be a police officer but i am just affraid of not passing the polygraph, what should i do?

[Sergeant1107]

I have the same problem , i am in the Army but i want to be a Police Officer , i always wanted to be but i am scared of the polygraph, i made some mistakes when i was younger and know i am paying for them , i have good education , sspeak spanish, and i love to be a police officer but i am just affraid of not passing the polygraph, what should i do?

Regardless of your past there is nothing to stop you from applying to be a police officer.  If the "mistakes" you made when you were younger are so bad that they disqualify you then you will be told that by your background investigator.

If you are concerned about failing the polygraph you are in good company.  I believe your chances of passing are about equal to your chances of failing, regardless of whether you lie or whether you tell the truth.  

The only sure way to avoid failing the polygraph is not, ironically, to tell the truth during the exam.  That has nothing to do with it, in my opinion.  I told the absolute truth on my first three polygraphs and failed each one.  Then I answered all the same questions in the same way on my fourth polygraph and passed.

The only sure way to avoid failing the polygraph is not to take it in the first place.  There are departments throughout the country which do not use the polygraph for pre-employment screening.  There are also states (such as Connecticut) which require by law a polygraph before hiring a police officer.