Terminated from LE job and getting back in.

[gene2105]

I was terminated from a Southern CA. Sheriff's Dept. in 2000 for an off-duty traffic accident. In addition, I was driving my car unregistered. I was criminally charged with hit and run, expired reg. along with an internal inv. In a nutshell, I fell asleep at the wheel (alcohol) and struck an inoperative fire hydrant. Susequently, I was cleared of the criminal acts (dismissed) however, my dept. felt I was dishonest for driving my veh. unregistered and terminated me after 10 yrs of service. I must go through every hiring process trying to explain what I did, but the facts remains there is a charge of dishonesty attached to the termination and it's hard to get an agency to hire me based on this. I have talked to CA POST and was notified that my certs. are valid and it's up to the particular dept. to decide wheather or not to take a chance on me. Does anyone have any info on any "Second Chance" depts. or whats steps I could take to make myself marketable.

Thx.:confused:

[kirch]

The general advice on this kind of topic seems to be 'think small'. About the only department that's going to take that kind of flyer on someone who's been fired elsewhere is going to be a small department that is probably going to be forced into being a little flexible on the hiring requirements due to lack of money, lack of action, etc. If you can get hired by a small department and put in several years of quality work without any disciplinary action, then you might stand a chance of moving on to a larger, better-paying department. Overcoming something like that in your employment history is a matter of building trust over a long period of time to show that it was a singular occurrence and you learned for your mistake. Consider your time at a small dept. your pennance (no offense to small agencies out there -- I work for two myself).

And who knows, maybe you'll find that working for a small department fits you well and you'll spend your career there. Stranger things have happened.

[Piggy]

You never know until you try. Just remember to be honest with your Background Investigator. It's better they hear it from you than someone else. Be ready to explain how you learned from your mistakes.

As to making yourself more marketable, you could always try to learn spanish.

[cleetus0219]

After 10 years they canned you? That's crazy. Good riddance to them and good luck finding a better home.

[nobody33]

In the IE there are several deperments that could be considered "second chance agencies" San Bernardino School Police, Banning PD, and SB Valley College PD are ones I can think of off hand. I know school police has hired people fired from other agencies as has SB Valley college. The pay sucks at both though.

[flatbadge]

Small is good as in the other posting. I have seen small depts hire guys the big ones wouldnt. Your posting is vague though. It sounds as if you were DUI and did a hit and run. Whether you were convicted or not does not matter to BI. If you did it, then you did.

I would find out exactley what is in your file reference the incident. The dishonesty is huge.

All you can do is try, as you really have nothing to loose. With the messed up CA budget, more then likely you might find a dept that needs an officer, w/o the academy BS. I know the community college PD's have hired terminated officers from bigger agencies.

Good luck.

Mike

[flatbadge]

Your profile intrigues me. Are you now a corrections officer in AZ?