Ex-druggie? It's OK, you can still be a cop!

[shesulsa]

My jaw is still on the floor:

Police departments around the country are relaxing age and fitness standards, forgiving minor criminal convictions and easing other requirements to relieve shortages in their ranks and find officers who are wiser, more worldly and cooler-headed in a crisis.

In recent years, St. Petersburg and Tampa, Fla., dropped the need for a two-year college degree if the candidate has military or law enforcement experience. Oakland, Calif., is no longer disqualifying applicants for minor, long-ago drug convictions or gang involvement. And Boston this spring raised the upper age limit for recruits from 32 to 40.


"Being well-rounded, having some life experience, makes for a better person and patrolman _ someone who is coming up on a conflict who is mature and measured, as opposed to some young kid right out of school," said Boston City Councilor Michael Flaherty, who proposed the age-limit increase.

FULL ARTICLE

I see positive and negatives here. Thoughts? Opinions? Rants? Raves?

 

[jks9199]

Departments have had to adjust the rules on some drug use, in response to society's changes. Minor experimentation (defined differently by different agencies, but generally no more than a couple of single uses of marijuana) with some drugs several years prior to the application is now accepted, however most felony drugs (cocaine, LSD, etc) are not tolerated in agencies that I'm familar with. Gang involvement would worry me more; that applicant would have to be very, very carefully investigated in my opinion, to be certain that there is no current gang involvement.

Upper age limits -- those I don't have a problem eliminating. If the applicant can pass the physical tests and medical exam, and do the job, be they male or female, old or young, they're welcome. In fact, I've incidents where an older partner saved us from fighting or killing someone because he carried that extra "old enough to be your father" gravitas that I didn't.

 

[Drac]

Departments have had to adjust the rules on some drug use, in response to society's changes. Minor experimentation (defined differently by different agencies, but generally no more than a couple of single uses of marijuana) with some drugs several years prior to the application is now accepted, however most felony drugs (cocaine, LSD, etc) are not tolerated in agencies that I'm familar with

The last department I applied for was more concerned about my honesty about my experimentation that the actual usage..No felony drug users ever get in..

Gang involvement would worry me more; that applicant would have to be very, very carefully investigated in my opinion, to be certain that there is no current gang involvement

Ditto...

Upper age limits -- those I don't have a problem eliminating. If the applicant can pass the physical tests and medical exam, and do the job, be they male or female, old or young, they're welcome

They have even adjusted the physical test in some places so an ideal although older candidate has a good shot at getting in..The physical tests are still brutal but the running has been scaled back, ya still have to do everything else..

 

[CoryKS]

Well, I don't have a big problem with it provided that the ex- part is accurate. Are we talking about ten years ago or ten days ago? The issue for me isn't really the drug use itself, it's the individual's comfort level with breaking the law. Are people who think they can choose which laws they feel like obeying really the best candidates to uphold all of our laws?

Article says more than five years. I'd still want to know if they quit because of a new-found respect for the law or if they just couldn't afford it anymore.

 

[MJS]

I would tend to agree that the lesser offenses would be more acceptable than something on a larger scale. The gang involvement is something that I think would raise more of a concern. The agility tests are broken down by age/sex, so as the others have said, if you're able to pass, go for it!

Mike

 

[Blotan Hunka]

I can see dropping the college degree requirement if the applicant has other "real world" experience. I can see changing the age limits if the applicant can "hang" physically. The drugs though. If a guy did a joint or two in school BFD. If he was addicted to Heroin, thats a different story.

 

[kaizasosei]

druggie
this is an interesting topic for me....as a habitual stoner that it can be called an adiction.
i have brief breaks, but still i continue. I would consider stoping for something like being a cop or if able to return to the army.
still i think i would like to go to a place where it is not illegal for holliday sometimes...i dunno.
probably wiser not to mix the two worlds in the first place. why make life complicated..? on the other hand, police work can be rougher than smoking weed, thats for sure.. but the addiction part would not be good. however, mostly cause i don't have anything else to do and i find the substance aids me in my studies as much, or more, than it hinders me. good or bad?
if it were to become legal, which it practically is, over here.at least highly tolerated, but if it were to be legal, then i would have no problem cause i don't really do anything else.
i consider myself as an upholder of certain laws so i can see myself getting into it. i dunno. but i sometimes do consider the possibility of changing for something like that.

j

 

[jks9199]

Well, I don't have a big problem with it provided that the ex- part is accurate. Are we talking about ten years ago or ten days ago? The issue for me isn't really the drug use itself, it's the individual's comfort level with breaking the law. Are people who think they can choose which laws they feel like obeying really the best candidates to uphold all of our laws?

Article says more than five years. I'd still want to know if they quit because of a new-found respect for the law or if they just couldn't afford it anymore.

You mean you'd have a problem with the guy that my dad, working as a federal recruiting/hiring officer, was interviewing? When my dad asked him "have you ever used marijuana?" the guy said "Yes." Ok... "When was the last time you used marijuana?"... Prospective fed looks at his watch, and explains that he was nervous about the interview, so he lit up in the restroom outside...

Yeah -- that interview ended quick.

 

[Blotan Hunka]

You mean you'd have a problem with the guy that my dad, working as a federal recruiting/hiring officer, was interviewing? When my dad asked him "have you ever used marijuana?" the guy said "Yes." Ok... "When was the last time you used marijuana?"... Prospective fed looks at his watch, and explains that he was nervous about the interview, so he lit up in the restroom outside...

Yeah -- that interview ended quick.

OMFG! For real?

 

[Kembudo-Kai Kempoka]

In the mid-90's, I applied to CA Highway Patrol. They liked my app., liked the fact that it had been since the early 80's since my coke and weed usage, but didn't like my colorblindness. Apparently very important to see the color of the cars right, and I get green and grey mixed up in poor light. CHP had a "no weed in last 6 months, no blow in last 2 years" policy. I more than met it.

So, off to LAPD. They cared less about slight colorblindness, I heard. I passed the written with flying colors, and scored one of the highest initial orals in the hostory of the dept. They sent me to backgrounds. where they asked about my usage; I told them the sam timg I told CHP. They ended the process. Appears they had a "no tolerance" policy.

I heard later I could have repealed, based on some of my experiences and attitudes around casual drug use; several of the buddies I used to party with, including 3 of the 5 neighbor kids I grew up with, all dead because of it...others dying. Hated the crap. But I was so disheartened at NOT becoming an officer, that I didn't want to go through the heartbreak of re-enetring the process, just to be washed out for something else unforeseen.

Too bad, really. For both of us (LAPD and me). I would have made a great cop. I think standards are necessary, and I also think there needs to be room for individual evaluation based on the person sitting in front of you, and not just black and white criteria. Now, I'm on record for having been denied based on drug use; kinduva black ball in law enforcement.

D.

 

[Blotan Hunka]

Yeah, that sucks. But it is a message for the younger people here. If you have any dreams of becoming a cop, is doing any drug worth risking it?

 

[jks9199]

Yeah, that sucks. But it is a message for the younger people here. If you have any dreams of becoming a cop, is doing any drug worth risking it?

It's something I've said many times before...

Life ain't fair. The best guy in the world can screw up his entire life with a teenage mistake. So... before you start doing things, think about the consequences. One poster here (I apologize; I can't remember who at the moment...which'll guarantee that I find one of his posts in 10 minutes!) has a signature I like. It goes something like "Before you do something you can't undo -- think about what you won't be able to do after you do it."

 

[CoryKS]

You mean you'd have a problem with the guy that my dad, working as a federal recruiting/hiring officer, was interviewing? When my dad asked him "have you ever used marijuana?" the guy said "Yes." Ok... "When was the last time you used marijuana?"... Prospective fed looks at his watch, and explains that he was nervous about the interview, so he lit up in the restroom outside...

Yeah -- that interview ended quick.

LOL. From what I heard from my wife, who worked for a time at a staffing agency, it's pretty common for people to "self-medicate" to take care of interview jitters. Never heard of someone firing up at a law enforcement interview, though.

 

[Drac]

Yeah, that sucks. But it is a message for the younger people here. If you have any dreams of becoming a cop, is doing any drug worth risking it?

Not just being a cop but any job that has an extensive backround check

 

[arnisador]

Drug offenses...well, will Barack Obama be forgiven when he seeks the top law enforcement job in the U.S.? I think we do need to be able to forgive long-ago drug usage, realistically.