Ok, your application passed muster, you were successful in your interview, the polygraph/CVSA is done, you had your initial background interview. You were approved to go forward, and your paperwork is (mostly) in. Now, the background investigator goes to work on your background.
I believe that some candidates may have a misconception as to what the background is all about. It is not JUST to find illegal activity. It determines if you meet the POST dimensions to be a police officer or public safety dispatcher. I mentioned the POST dimensions in a previous post.
By law, certain things disqualify (DQ) a candidate from the position. Those things are specific criminal activity and some convictions. They are usually felonies and other crimes of moral turpitude. Then there is the other stuff that won’t DQ a candidate, but depending on the agency, will drop you from the process and not hire you…not meeting many of the POST job dimensions.
I have some examples: Honesty (telling the truth to friends, coworkers, and family), reliability (being late to everything or not showing up at all or keeping promises), likability (people you know and meet think you’re a flaming asshole), ethics (doing what’s right when no one is looking), consideration of others (you self-centered jerk), ability to take constructive criticism (especially at work), racial prejudice, and the list goes on. So it is not just criminal activity.
Every person that is listed on your Personal History Statement (PHS) will be contacted. That is spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend, ex’s, family, listed references, former roommates, former employers, and former coworkers.
Hint: It is a good idea to contact everyone you listed in your PHS to give them the heads-up that you listed them and that they will be contacted by a background investigator from ABC Sheriff’s Department. Ask them to please respond as soon as possible because it will shorten the process, and you can be hired (or dropped) sooner.
A typical thing the background investigator does is to send out questionnaires to everyone listed, either electronically, by snail mail, or by phone. Then, they will decide who to speak to on the phone, accept the returned form, or speak to them in person.
I have had the experience with parents telling me that their child should never be a police officer and cite the reasons. Boy is that a red flag.
Here’s the kicker, you thought you listed the people who would give you the best reference. But one of the main things the investigator does is to develop secondary references and secondary coworkers to talk to that are not listed in your PHS. So you thought you were smart only listing the ones who would give you a favorable review. Think again. Be assured that one person out of 50 that says your a big dick, say you did this or that, without corroboration, will not be a deciding factor.
The background investigator will knock on all your neighbor’s doors at every place you’ve lived since you were 15 years old or for the last ten years. They want to know if they heard screaming and fighting coming from your home, clouds of marijuana smoke drifting every day from your house, you driving like an ass down the street, loud parties every weekend from your home with your guests pissing on their lawns, etc. I have come across all those examples and then some.
All of your former employers for the last ten years will be contacted as well as former coworkers. I have had candidates in which all their supervisors tell me they would never hire them again. However, most say they would hire them again. Were you always late to work? Did you make the workplace uncomfortable for your coworkers, or were you the guy or gal that always volunteered to help others, work their shifts when they were having trouble at home, etc.? That’s the kind of employee we want. How was your interaction with coworkers and customers? Did you give a shit?
Your education will be verified. For example, if you graduated from “Stinkies School of the North” in Upper Bumfuck, Minnesota, we will check to see if it is accredited. As a side note, did you know Upper Bumfuck, Minnesota, has a sister city in Egypt?(Where men are men and goats are scared)
Many candidates don’t even know that their high school was not accredited? It is a big disappointment to be DQ’d because they don’t have a diploma from an accredited high school. The solution is to get a college degree. That wasn’t an option a few years ago. You were just out of luck unless you went back and got a high school diploma from an accredited high school (adult education) or took a challenge test to get a high school equivalency document. You may as well go for an AA instead.
In my experience, most of the non-accredited high schools that candidates were not aware they were not accredited were small Seventh Day Adventist schools. They offer excellent education but sometimes lack the necessary POST-recognized accreditation. Bummer.
All police jurisdictions you have lived in the past ten years will be contacted, and any police report or log entry will be obtained. If you listed some activities, you might be asked to obtain those reports. We can get the documents that the agencies will not release to you. We will try to contact the people involved if you were the suspect.
We will contact every police agency that you applied to. They will tell us why you were DQ’d or passed on as they usually won’t tell you. That gives us further leads to find things out in your background and more secondary references.
If you were in the military, we will obtain your records from the US Government.
A credit check will be done. Remember that responsibility part? If you have terrible credit, that is a common reason for a pass on you. But, here is the caveat; if your credit is bad because you had a severe medical issue and your insurance sucked, and you had to live on credit cards and are having trouble paying your bills because of that, or declared bankruptcy, that is considered. But, that situation is compared to the 22-year-old who makes minimum wage, buys a brand new Ram pickup, a new Harley, and a set of Jet Ski’s, maxes out his credit cards, and can’t figure out why he can’t afford the payments…well…
Social media is the downfall of many a candidate. The background investigator will ask you what social media accounts you have or had, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Don’t leave any out. We will sit down with you and have you log in to each account and while you are present, go through all your shit. I have discovered a lot of things using social media accounts, like photos of flashing gang signs with your homies, snorting a white powdery substance from a hooker’s ass, or the funny image of you so shit-faced that you are passed out in your own vomit (have seen all of those). Why the heck would you post those photos? First, you did those things, and second, you didn’t have the common sense not to post them online.
Oh, you say we have no right to look at your accounts. Guess again. You have to sign a waiver allowing us to look. If you don’t, the process will stop. Yes, there is a law that prevents future employers from looking at your accounts. However, that is for civilians, not law enforcement applicants.
There is a lot more involved in the background. I covered the basics. Every person contacted will be asked about racial prejudices. That has always been a biggie.
Most applicants do not pass the background. Many don’t pass because they didn’t list something that would not have disqualified them in the first place.
The federal government does not have this complete background investigation for law enforcement or sensitive position employees.
I have a question for you. How many of our congress and other politicians do you think would pass a California law enforcement background investigation?
Scattered Thought 