Background question...

[tazmanian devil dog]

I am 40 years old and newly remarried. I have steady fulltime work as a Federal Contract armed guard for the FAA.

Back in 1996 I put myself through a police academy here in Norcal and graduated. I never got hired. I was told back then that females and minorities were more desireable and that I should try more rural departments. That said I focused on my family life and got work as a federal contract guard. 12 miserable years later, I divorced.

Now I am newly married to a wonderful supportive woman who is encouraging me to try being an officer again.

My record is clean but I do have credit issues from the previous marriage which I am working on. All of it medical debt. My ex tried to get a restraining order which was inevitably denied and I was fired from one job back in 2006. (Fired for disagreeing with my boss)

I have no credit card debt whatsoever.

So my question is:


Will these issues be a bar from employment or too big to overcome?

I would love to try this again, but I don't wanna waste my time if those issues are going to be a big hassle.

What do you guys think? Please don't spare my feelings. Give it to me straight.

[goathead]

i know CDC takes bad credit

[yzErnie]

Every department is a bit different when it comes to this subject. There are some minimum requirements that must be met but I don't know what POST considers a disqualifier.

[Unit74]

With credible explainantions I don't see any issues as of yet.

[Jonathan Doe]

With credible explainantions I don't see any issues as of yet.

I agree with this. Try to be honest and explain the reason for the credit issues, especially if it is a medical related issue.

[Ron-Solo]

Go for it. You have reasonable explanations.

[Fire in the Hole]

Let me put this as candidly as I can. At age 40, a conventional LE academy is going kick your rear-end. It brings 20-25 year olds to the brink. Consider other LE related jobs that at a bit "softer." Since you alreaqdy work in association at the federal level, have you considered these avenues?

[yzErnie]

I'll respectfully disagree with FITH on this one. It may be a bit tougher for a 40 year old than a 25 year old but we recently had a 55 year old go through our academy. If you want it bad enough...go get it!!

[Jonathan Doe]

We have trained older people in the past, some retired from the military. They did good. So, go for it. If you never tried, you would never find out.

[retired]

When I went thru, we had a 52yr. old cadet from a local PD in my class. He wasn't able to pass one of the PT tests we had during the academy, so they recycled him to the next class 6 weeks later. He graduated from that one and became a full time officer with his dept.

He had been a reserve with them for many years, so they knew his qualities and I was told he did well for them.

[eltee]

There are many examples of 55 plus year old recruits making it through the academy. Some are folks who have retired from one career and are embarking on an LEO career as boots. If they are fit, they make it through, sometimes outshining younger pups. Often the life experiences and maturity they bring to the table are very valuable. The PT is rough, but the "senior" recruits I've seen came through fine.

I know of one guy who went through at over 55 and he became an informal mentor to many of the younger recruits. He helped young pups with handling crises intervention scenarios, etc. and they helped him by cheering him on as he gutted his way through some of the tougher PT phases. He ended up as the class valedictorian.

In other cases, cops have retired from one LE agency (city police, FBI, military police) and went into another dept. as a rookie (so long as the pension plan was not the same). They did not go in as laterals if they came from the feds, they humped through a boot academy with the 20 somethings.

Age, IMHO, means little. Fitness and the ability to get through PT is the issue. Go for it.

The only problem some of my older friends who became officers experienced is that during FTO citizens would address the old rookie and not the younger FTO, thinking that the older cop was the senior, more experienced one.

[yzErnie]

The only problem some of my older friends who became officers experienced is that during FTO citizens would address the old rookie and not the younger FTO, thinking that the older cop was the senior, more experienced one.

It helps them increase the learning curve!!

[tazmanian devil dog]

Well, based on the responses so far, it looks like I might actually have a shot at this.

Someone also told me that since I graduated the academy back in 96 that I might only need to do the POST 3 week refresher (no PT) and be good to go as a lateral. I will be looking into that this week as well.

Thanks for all the input guys, I have hope at a new start. Who knows maybe the powers that be decided I needed to sort through some stuff before getting hired. In retrospect, I know if I'd been hired when I was with my first wife, it could have been very bad.

Anyway, thanks very much to all who answered and those who continue to leave feedback.


Stay safe.

Taz

[retired]

Good luck.

[just4fun63]

Hey I'm going through this Jan at 47 been working out and running for the last three months. It hurts but I'm almost up to the point i need to be. (btw running sucks) I have had lots of credit issues over the years, so far so good.