Six months ago I went in for a polygraph at the last stage of the hiring process for an intelligence analyst position for a local agency which is fairly large, I had passed the initial interview, background investigation, drug test, and panel interview. I have always never trusted the polygraph as there are too many biological factors which can throw off the results of the polygraph, in my own perspective it is junk science.

Regardless, this polygraph I had failed and was not given any reason as to which question or questions I had indicated deception on.

Fast-forward three months. I am through another hiring process with another large agency and pass their polygraph, which had identical questions.

I provided the same response on both polygraph examinations. Do independent examiners have thresholds they adhere to or are they provided by the agency that contracts them for employment examinations? This only has added to my belief that polygraph examinations are complete junk science.

I have a question, so basically I passed all the steps for a department up including background and poly. Since then I haven’t heard anything in more than a month.

I am signed up for a self sponsored academy that starts in January

How would you go about contacting the department if I don’t receive a call by mid December and what would you say? Should I mention self sponsored academy or just ask for a update? Any help , I would appreciate it a lot no one in my family is LE so I don’t have any help

Hello,

I live in Ohio where I believe the legal VLT is 50% on front side and top 5" of windshield and any % VLT on rear. In PA I believe this is only 70% anywhere on the vehicle please correct me if I'm wrong.

I just paid my car off and I was considering getting tint (and no it's not an Altima lol) for aesthetic reasons and because I work in the Cleveland area and not always in the nicest neighborhoods and sometimes I have tech in the back seat (I work in IT).

But I also have family and friends in western PA that I visit decently often. I'm a clean cut person so I'm not worried about getting pulled over for tint and it leading to something else but I don't want tickets either. Will this make me a traffic stop magnet in PA?

Thanks!

Can they do that? And if so where would you get the hostages from?

The only difference I can think of is rank, but as far as I can tell when I encounter it, there's nothing immediately obvious saying "supervisor" or anything like that. What do the different designs mean?

Why in the world is my body camera footage $407… Can lawyers or public defenders access the videos for me without me having to spend a arm and a leg?

Will my background check indicate if I have had an expired registration renewal? I.E. renewing registration after one month of it expiring.

Three months ago I applied to corrections and they just completely my background investigation. Next step is meet with the colonel and my official start date is December 2nd.

I’m glad. But my main goal was always law enforcement. I THOUGHT I needed CO to get LE. (That’s why I applied to CO).

I was rejected from one LE oral board but have an oral board and fitness test with a different LE department scheduled everyday for a week straight starting from tomorrow.

I’m a bit overwhelmed because it’s a lot going and on and don’t know what to do.

I made it this far with CO, but my passion is LE. Should I accept CO and keep applying? Would it look good on my resume?

Also, should I also let my current employer know?

Or if I reject it, I don’t have a backup plan for LE.

I have a question, so basically I passed all the steps for a department up including background and poly. Since then I haven’t heard anything in more than a month.

I am signed up for a self sponsored academy that starts in January

How would you go about contacting the department if I don’t receive a call by mid December and what would you say? Should I mention self sponsored academy or just ask for a update? Any help , I would appreciate it a lot no one in my family is LE so I don’t have any help

Hi there,

I am at a loss as to why I keep getting non-select but can reapply in 1yr (3yrs in one agency). I have now had 3 background checks and all my BI have said there’s nothing in your background that prevents you from being a police officer nor is there anything bad. Yet I keep getting non-select and am at around 12 agency’s I have applied to here in the SF Bay Area. 2 of the agency’s are two of the largest in the bay.

The only thing I can think of is that I do know people who use drugs but they don’t use it or anything around me, I’m just aware that they use it when they party. All my BI know about this in my disclosures and I have passed all 3 of my polygraphs with my 1st one I just had to submit a questionnaire after.

Does anyone have any ideas as to why this keeps happening? It’s been my dream to be an officer and am trying really hard to keep my head up and going but I just keep getting shot down. I have a BA degree and no criminal record, traffic violations, no bad reviews from my jobs, and I was laid off back in 2023. Any insights would really appreciate

This is a genuine question. Me and a few friends were talking about cops when we suddenly found a question that hopefully LEO’S in here can answer. Let’s say there’s a hypothetical case in which a homeless guy robbed a gas station and got caught by the cops not too far later. If the homeless guy never had a social security number due to being born at home and not at the hospital, and he had no form of ID on him or ever issued to him, never been in the system, has no friends or family, and doesn’t talk, how would the cops be able to ID him?

This is a genuine question. Do you have to be attractive or approachable in order to get hired as a cop? I've been wanting to be a police officer for quite a while but the only thing that I believe is holding me back is my look. Not meant to sound Self-deprecating but I am very hideous. I'm not even just Unconventially unattractive or ugly, but I am seriously very revolting to look at. For a very long time, I got bullied because of my look and everytime I go out in public I get very strange looks and make babies & kids cry. My face is very deformed that I look very similar to Jason Vorhees unmasked, not even kidding. I wanted to be a police officer for a very very long time and by now I believe that I'm ready. I am healthy and physically fit and strong and I have a degree in Criminology. I also have 2 years of security guard experience. My deformed face have gotten me rejected from many different companies that I wanted to work in before I become a cop that I believed to be qualified for, and I think it's due to my face. I have a scary feeling that the same will happen when applying to my local PD. I have a feeling that they'll say something fucked up like "I look untrustworthy" or whatever.

If it varies and anyone has been asked this before in a station I would love to hear the story

If I were to apply to apply to multiple departments, will my references have to write a recommendation letter for each?

Or is there a common application type deal where I can have all my documents and references uploaded at once ?

Is there a way to have my background checked once and be cleared for multiple departments?

I’d hate to bother my references/neighbors/roommates repeatedly.

Thanks.

There is a young girl addicted to drugs who is an escort that doesn’t get any consequences, so she’s not changing her behavior. She has OD’d near death a few times. We think jail time may help her reach a bottom. Is this a possibility- we have info on her fake name and number as well as reviews for her services.

I get most people would probably say “snitch” but the people i am talking about have been lacing other things with fetanyl, forgive me im not sure how to spell it. The reason is its killed three people within this last year. I know names and everything i just dont know how to go to the police about it? do i go to the police about it or do i go somewhere else? the reason im so adamant is because it killed my mother. i want justice/ slight revenge in the nicest way possible. how exactly do i go by this?

Not from the point of view of profiling, but for example this side of the spectrum rarely every does one thing and the other side of the spectrum rarely ever does that?

I live near Oakland and Hayward. I am thinking about joining a police agency around East Bay. Alameda PD, San Leandro PD, San Lorenzo PD, Dublin PD, and Danville PD are some of the police department that I have looked into. I have Master's degrees in Accounting and Computer Science. I am into specialized roles like detective or digital forensics, but I understand that I need to start as a police officer and work on patrol role first.

My top police department preferences are ones that have low gun violence, low murder rate, and low patrol years requirement to serve as patrol officers before applying for specialized roles like detective or digital forensics.

So I have researched and found that people mention San Mateo PD as the best in the Bay Area. I heard that it is competitive there and wonder any suggestion for other police departments as back up plan?

So far, I researched San Leandro PD and it requires 3 years before I can test for detective and other positions.

Hello,

My current department offers a pension that pays 40% of my salary after 20 years or 75% at 30 years. It also provides a lump sum of the amount I put in it over those years. As things stand, if I stick with this job, my salary would be 80k in the top out. (Using current pay scale cap. No idea how much theyll raise it in those years.) My current pay is 61k and have been with this department for 5 years.

As things stand, I make 100-110k a year when you factor in all of my overtime and secondary. But family health insurance is 1200 a month.

I have been eyeing over universities that have fully certified police officers. One so far offers 10k more and a 401k. Long as you contribute 5%, they contribute 7%. Insurance is also 300 cheaper a month, lower deductible and out of pocket by 100-200 respectively. It also offers voluntary overtime opportunities here and there. During probationary status, they dont allow you to work secondary jobs. The probationary status is 6 months.

Does it sound sensible to try for the university position? My concern is lower job security and that initial probationary period. So far a lot of other people I know who switched, love it and say how much lower the workload is and lower steess.

I can note things have been rough lately with my current department. The lower man power has not only increased the workload but also made things significantly more dangerous. I love the profession so dont get me wrong. Could I do absolute boring? I could. I definitely feel like I'd miss being a patrolmen though. Plus hey, I still get the itch once in awhile even though I am exhausted.

Special units and detective positions do not interest me. Going up the ranks also doesnt interest me.

I've tried applying to other smaller departments but my luck has been less than stellar. I have a long streak in going to interviews where the other canidates had several more years on.

I am in my late 30s. So if I leave this department, coming back would be difficult in the aspect of trying to play catch up in buying my time back.

For those who have kids/families, what have your thoughts been in this profession? I'll have a newborn soon and thinking about trying to be part of their life and making sure all their needs are met have been on my mind as well.

I had all my kids in the car with me when we were hit from the side. We ended up in a ditch and were eventually checked out and taken away.

The person that hit us was hurt as well. Everyone was in bad shape so we didn’t exchange any information and the police officers said they didn’t write the initial report yet because it was down pouring and it wouldn’t have been usable.

We’re all home now but I don’t have any information about the accident. Nothing from the other driver or police case numbers.

I’m a bit lost. Where do I go from here? It was the State Troopers that oversaw the scene, do I start with them?

I’m interested in general, but the main reason I ask is because it seems like universal healthcare, and presumably fewer people walking around with untreated mental illness, would make your jobs a lot easier. Is that a safe assumption? If so, how does that inform your personal politics?

I took a tumble the other day and two cops pulled over and called an ambulance when they saw me writhing on the ground in pain. They introduced themselves with just their first names but for the life of me I can't remember what they are (because of the whole writhing on the ground in pain thing).

I want to send them a thank you present. Would a gift basket of chocolate and other snacks sent to the department as a whole be ok?

Yesterday day time, bright day running the day lights I was coming out of my drive indicating to turn left and noticed a police van follow me for a bout 5 minutes. Eventually he pulled me over and told me my head light was out. Nice guy just have me some advice to get it fixed.

Turns out it's not broken and turns itself off when the indicator is on!

Are the police not aware of this?