Hiring Process for San Bernardino Sheriff's Department?

[mbmx13]

I was just curious if anyone could tell me why the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department hiring process takes so long?

I really want to work for this department and I haven't had other offers but I was just curious why they take so long when they need so many people!

Applied as Deputy Sheriff Pre-service: 08/2006
Took Polygraph: 11/2006
Backgrounds: Pending completion
Oral Interview: Pending
Physical: Pending
Psych: Pending
Conditional Offer: Pending

Reserve Officer Stuckinsecurity

[ElDiabloJoe]

Might be time to stiff a call in to your BI, perhaps he was promoted or transferred and someone else has come in and taken over his case load...but hasn't really gotten to you yet.

Disregard if you've spoken to BI lately however.

EDJ

[mbmx13]

EDJ,

You are right, I have a new BI that was assigned back in January. He told me that it looked like the other BI already completed my Background but since the old BI got transferred, he has to go over my background again and make sure it is complete.

I talked to him again 2 weeks ago. I called to make sure that he has all my transcripts and to see if he needed anything else from me. He told me that he would call me back that day and let me know what the time frame is going to be for being hired but never called back.

I would like to call him and find out what the time frame is but I don't want to make him mad.

Do BI's get annoyed if you call them back? I don't want him to think that I am not interested but I also don't want him to get mad for my calling and bugging him.

What are your thoughts on this?

[F67]

i would give it a week, if no call, then call him and say you were returning his call. remember that BI's usually have 20-30 caseloads at any given time. I know hoe frustrating it can be, but you should use the time you have to increase your ,marketability (i.e excell at your current job, workout, schedule another ride-a-long/jail tour) this will get back to your BI.

[ElDiabloJoe]

I always gave my BI at least 2 weeks, sometimes up to 4. I always prefaced my email or phone message/call with a "Just wanted to check in and see if there was anything else I can do or anything else you need from me."

Remember the two things they say about news:

1. No news is good news.
2. Good news comes by phone, bad news comes by mail (AFAIK I am the proud author of that one :))

EDJ

[nobody33]

You're a preservice hire and it takes that long? Find an agency with their stuff together... for all the agencies that are hiring people to the academy in 3 months start to finish, for you to be a preservice and 6 months without an interview doesn't say much for them.

[ask80]

yep i agree. pre-services shouldn't take that long. i was applying pre-service with riverside SO, and they were moving me fast. background package, 2 weeks later background interview, 3 days later polygraph, then i got hired with another agency.

if you had your new BI in january. I don't think it would take 2.5 months to go over your background again. heck it usually takes like a month to do backgrounds, unless your BI is really backlogged.

[mbmx13]

I would think so too. Especially since I have already been a cop before for 14 months before I was terminated on probation. I have been turned down by all of the other agencies that I applied for right after backgrounds but no one is willing to tell me why!

RSO - DQ
Riverside County Welfare Fraud - DQ
Indio PD - DQ drug use 12 years ago (15 year requirement for any hard drug use!)
Beaumont PD - DQ
Banning PD - Not hiring, will hire me as a reserve first! Took interview 2 weeks ago, still waiting for results!
Federal Bureau of Prisons - DQ

Could the fact that I was terminated on probation, be a reason for them disqualifying me? I was up front about my drug usage and they told me that it wouldn't be a problem for their agency.

I told each BI about any issues at the start of my backgrounds and they told me that it wouldn't be any problem and that it all rode on what my former employer tells them about why I was terminated. I don't know why I was terminated but I was told by a few people at the department that basically, I got f*#ked!

Is it possible to be the victim of reverse discrimination? The people that are still there and got hired around the same time as me were females and/or minorities. The Sergeant in charge of FTO's was a minority as well and never liked me for some reason and I could never figure it out.

I was never cocky, braggish, or rude to anyone but I would really like to know what I did wrong if anything. The same Sergeant sat in on my IA board after my shooting and since then, he has never been very nice to me.

In my IA interview, after the lybarger, I told him that I never saw the gun but the suspect did tell me he had one and that he wanted to shoot me. He made a movement toward me like he had a gun. I heard a pop, I felt air on the left side of my head and I returned fire, so did my partner. It was all caught on tape!

My partner actually saw the gun but I didn't.

Last question: Can being in a shooting in your former agency cause other agencies to be cautious when looking to hire you?

Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated!

Thank you for taking the time to post!

[SOCALCOP]

Wow! I think you need to come to the realization that your law enforcement career is over. I don't mean to be harsh but come on. Terminated from a PD as a police officer and you claim not to know why? DQ'd by several different departments. The shooting sounds justified but I get a feeling your former agency saw it differently. I think it's time to stop trying to get back in the game and find a new career.

[mbmx13]

Wow! I think you need to come to the realization that your law enforcement career is over. I don't mean to be harsh but come on. Terminated from a PD as a police officer and you claim not to know why? DQ'd by several different departments. The shooting sounds justified but I get a feeling your former agency saw it differently. I think it's time to stop trying to get back in the game and find a new career.
That has been my thinking for the past 6 months and I am in the process of finding another career. I still have 2 last things that I have been grappling with:
(1) I am waiting to get DQ'ed or hired from my 2 last agencies that I am in process with.
and
(2) I am still hired as a Reserve Police Officer with the same department that fired me!

What could I have done that was bad enough for my department to blackball me to other agencies but not bad enough for them to keep me as a Reserve Police Officer?

I don't get it and probably never will!

Thanks for your comment!

[SOCALCOP]

I have never heard of such a thing! A PD fires you from full time duties but keeps you on as a reserve? I can only think of one thing that it might be then. It seems that your performance as a full time police officer was sub-standard but they did not want to fully cut ties with you and instead offered you a reserve job with the stipulation that you will always ride with a full time police officer. Sort of a supervision thing. My suggestion then is to work at being a better cop then lateral as a reserve to an agency you would some day like to work full time. Get some college if you dont have any. In short make some changes, make yourself a better person first then a better cop.

[mbmx13]

I have never heard of such a thing! A PD fires you from full time duties but keeps you on as a reserve? I can only think of one thing that it might be then. It seems that your performance as a full time police officer was sub-standard but they did not want to fully cut ties with you and instead offered you a reserve job with the stipulation that you will always ride with a full time police officer. Sort of a supervision thing. My suggestion then is to work at being a better cop then lateral as a reserve to an agency you would some day like to work full time. Get some college if you dont have any. In short make some changes, make yourself a better person first then a better cop.
What you said makes a lot of sense.

If it was substandard performance then why did none of my evaluations reflect that?

I am frustrated by the whole thing because I go on vacation for 2 weeks, come back to work and 3 days later, I am canned!

The last 6 years, my life has been geared toward law enforcement!

Is it possible that some of the tenured employees felt threatened by my success. I was really good at being a cop and I loved investigating, digging into cases, and arresting people. I had a blast!

No one told me that Police work could be so much fun!

[CaPDwannabe]

In my IA interview, after the lybarger, I told him that I never saw the gun but the suspect did tell me he had one and that he wanted to shoot me. He made a movement toward me like he had a gun. I heard a pop, I felt air on the left side of my head and I returned fire, so did my partner. It was all caught on tape!

My partner actually saw the gun but I didn't.

Last question: Can being in a shooting in your former agency cause other agencies to be cautious when looking to hire you?

Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated!

Thank you for taking the time to post!

Sorry if I completely missed something in this story...but there seems to be a lot of info missing:

Did a round from your weapon hit the suspect?

Was he arrested?

Was his gun found?

Was anything found around him that could have been perceived as a gun, i.e. wallet, knife, money clip, comb, brush?

Do you have a written statement from your partner that he uttered those remarks? If he told IA, you can get a copy of the transcripts through FOIA of a lawsuit.

FYI: Saying you have a gun, threatening to use that gun, and making ANY sudden movement...may more than justify deadly force.

[F67]

you were never given a specific reason why you were terminated? no write-ups at all?
The reason why the dept decided not to keep you during your probation?

Seems a little out there to anyone that looks into your file, if you say "I have no idea why i was let go". That shows to anyone that you have something to hide. I should know, i was victim to a termination 2 days prior to my oral psych interview, when i explained that it was B.S. reasons and that the company terminated over 20 people from my location, The interview immeadiatly ended and i was DQ'd based on that. I obtained a copy of the psych's report and it stated that I was trying to hide the circumstances surrounding my dismissal. I had to wait a year, and am now able to re-apply.

I would contact your HR person at your former station, and schedule a sit down to look over your file. At the very least you should request a complete copy of your employment file. They are required to provide you with copies of your employment file, including termination paperwork. If any information is omitted when you receive your copies, I would seek legal council. If you really do not know why you were let go, that

[mbmx13]

I don't want to give too much information because I don't want to identify myself so, I am trying to be vague but here I go.

"Did a round from my weapon hit the suspect?"

I don't know, He was shot at by 4 or 5 different officers other than myself. After I shot at him, he took off in pursuit and we chased him until it ended up in a SWAT standoff. He had under 10 bullet wounds from various calibers in him.

"Was he arrested?"

He is currently spending under 10 years in Chino Prison.

"Was his gun found?"

Nope, but the case to his gun was found at his house. It was empty, probably tossed it in the pursuit.

Was anything found around him that could have been perceived as a gun, i.e. wallet, knife, money clip, comb, brush?

He had a garden spade in a bag in his vehicle, does that count?

Do you have a written statement from your partner that he uttered those remarks?

My IA review and the DA's findings were: I was found to be (I can't remember the word that they use) I want to say that I was exonerated of any wrongdoing but I am not sure of the verbage that they used. My partner's IA statement and the statement in court is that he definitely saw a gun.

"FYI: Saying you have a gun, threatening to use that gun, and making ANY sudden movement...may more than justify deadly force."

The DA thought that it was justified and the suspect was prosecuted and his spending time behind bars.

[CaPDwannabe]

"Was his gun found?"

Nope, but the case to his gun was found at his house. It was empty, probably tossed it in the pursuit.

The fact that no gun was found and this guy had multiple gunshot wounds, WITHOUT A DOUBT, his hands, arms, and clothes HAD to have been tested for GSR (Gunshot Residue) for several reasons, the most obvious - this guy would have had a huge case against the municipality for excessive force. Not only would cops have been given time on the beach, but the suspect would have gotten a phat settlement check.

If GSR was found on him - you need to find a good attorney for a slam-dunk case in your favor.

[ask80]

what happened to your partner that was also involved in the shooting? did he get fired too? did he pass probation? if he is still on, then your termination must have been something other than the shooting. since you both fired at the suspect. i'm sure there are other agencies in your location.. hmm cathedral city? hemet? they seem squared away based on what i've seen on COPS. hehe... college police (UCR) or community college? why did BOP DQ you? why don't you try farther out?

and if you think that you were racially discriminated then you better have some conrete good evidence... just a tip.

[mbmx13]

The fact that no gun was found and this guy had multiple gunshot wounds, WITHOUT A DOUBT, his hands, arms, and clothes HAD to have been tested for GSR (Gunshot Residue) for several reasons, the most obvious - this guy would have had a huge case against the municipality for excessive force. Not only would cops have been given time on the beach, but the suspect would have gotten a phat settlement check.

If GSR was found on him - you need to find a good attorney for a slam-dunk case in your favor.
The DA's office handled the investigation instead of my department and they did a lot of things that they shouldn't have and they didn't do a lot of things that they should've.

In other words, no one ever checked his hands for GSR. I guess they figured since it was on video, that is the same as testing for GSR. I don't know what they were thinking.

[mbmx13]

what happened to your partnet that was also involved in the shooting? did he get fired too? did he pass probation? if he is still on, then your termination must have been something other than the shooting. since you both fired at the suspect. i'm sure there are other agencies in your location.. hmm cathedral city? hemet? they seem squared away based on what i've seen on COPS. hehe... college police (UCR) or community college? why did BOP DQ you? why don't you try farther out?

and if you think that you were racially discriminated then you better have some conrete good evidence... just a tip.
My partner is still on. He is a tenured veteran.

I think I am going to take someone else's advice on here about checking my personnel file because something is stopping my hiring process for other departments and I suspect it has to do with something at my department, possibly the Sergeant that had it in for me and got me canned.

BOP told me that I don't meet their criteria because I was terminated from my prior department and they said that it looks like I didn't even try to fight it.

I agree with you on the racial discrimination thing but the more people that hear about what happened that currently work there, the more I hear the term, "Sgt Blank, he's a racist *****!"

Being a white guy, I never deal with the racial issue so, I would like to be the last one to pull the race card.

Everyone that I talked to and according to a good friend of mine that no longer works there, were all shocked when I was terminated and no one from the Sgts and above provided an explanation.

It was a shock to me and it was a shock to my peers so that tells me that it wasn't me, there was some underlying issue with the staff.