eligability question

[nate]

well this is my question, i live in the state of ohio i'm 23 now. when i was 18 i commited a crime, i was charged with a 4th and 5th degree felony. i was never in any trouble before just with wrong people and wrong time, seniors in highschool. my lawyer said since i did want to become a police officer, that the best thing to do is take a diversion program, so i had to plead no contest, and enroll in the diversion program for 3 years. i asked my diversion/probation officer about me wanting to become a cop, and she said once i am done with the program i should be able to. well in 1 1/2 years i was done. and i was told everything was off my record. about a year later after a job interview with a factory, they said my background check came back bad and they can't offer me a job. so i called the court house and they said they forgot to erase it. my question is: is all this gonna disqualify me from my hope of becoming a police officer, my lawyer said it won't but reading all the stuff about background checks i am begining to wonder if i should give up and take the loss on all the classes in college i have already done, and change majors? is anyone familiar with the diversion program and how it works? is it expunged or erased is their a difference. please help

[Ben]

Could be tough to get on? Just be honest with them

[Charlie]

Nate--You've presented some difficult questions and I am sorry to say there are no definite answers. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with Ohio's laws. It might be to your benefit to consult that lawyer again and have them insure your record is expunged or erased as originally intended.

As for how your particular case is going stack up when it comes to pursuing the LE career, I would say your particular situation is nothing less than questionable. Generally speaking, even with the assumption your record will be expunged, I'd suspect that any PD you apply with will likely find out information concering the incident(s) you speak of where you were charged with the felony crimes. So, you'll likely have to put together a thorough explanation about what happen at that time and present this information to the background investigator. Then, they'll likely take a look at the overall circumstances concerning the situation(s) you were involved in and go from there. What will they say? What will happen then? I really don't know enough about your situation to really give you a more definite answer. But frankly, past involvement in felonious criminal activity is serious stuff PD's obviously frown upon.

I think your best bet is to contact the recruiter(s) at the departments you have interest in applying to by phone, mail, email, or whatever. Ask them some questions about this issue and see what they say about it. If you do this, you'll at least have a better idea of your chances with this whole issue. AND, you'll find out whether or not it would be a waste of your time to even apply. Then, you'll have a better handle on what you need to do next with your life in terms of a career.

Unfortunately, I suspect that if you can apply with a PD after tying up the loose ends, the odds are likely going to be against you. You'll have an uphill battle getting on board somewhere because of your past error in judgment. BUT, I could be wrong about that. Just my read based on what you've posted here. Nevertheless, good luck!

Charlie