Settle a debate for me

[Anti-Hero]

I have been in a debate lately about CCW and Law Enforcement.

Does having a CCW: Help, hurt, or Neutral when it comes to LE application process.

All the debating parties assume a denial will hurt.

[Ron-Solo]

It all depends on the reasons stated for the CCW, and any reasons for the denial. Add the variations by agency on what they're looking for and it's anyone's guess.

There is no way to definitively answer your question. Sorry.

[ironcross]

As Ron said its dynamic.

It might and it might not. You never know.

[oldironpants]

In the application process, it pretty much means nothing at all unless the denial was because of legal issues or numerous contacts by law enforcement. Then your application is going to get round filed anyway.

I firmly believe in the "shall issue" system, but the CCW process in CA is far too arbitrary.

That being said, anything, whether CCW related or not that is an issue, will absolutely be discovered in the background investigation process, then either dismissed or disqualified as a possible candidate.

[Anti-Hero]

Thanks! My take was that it was neutral as well, as long as you were not denied.

[Will Goes Boing]

IMO it might even help you a bit because of how stringent the CCW process is. If you have a CCW it pretty much means you must also have a clean background. Background checks usually take a long time, and this might actually expedite your process a tad.

[Cpl. Haas]

As already stated, it will vary depending on the agency, the reason you were granted or denied a CCW, and the individual attitude of the interviewer, BI, or chief who may ultimately interview you. If you were granted a CCW due to a direct threat, I don't see anyone taking issue with that... if it was for simple personal protection, some might agree with shall issue and not care, some may be uptight politicians and take issue.

The biggest issue that you can run into is giving them the impression you just want to carry a gun... if you have a CA, NV, FL, and UT CCW... but you don't have friends/family in most of those other states, that's going to paint a picture to the folks deciding whether or not to hire you.

The thing to remember is this: even in departments where the majority of street officers are known to be 2A-friendly, you still have to anticipate that the admin (Who do the hiring) are going to be left-leaning politically... it's just the way you have to play the game to be a LEO in CA.

[fullrearview]

In a perfect world, it wouldn't matter...But then again we wouldn't need heros for firemen either...

[Notorious]

IMO it might even help you a bit because of how stringent the CCW process is. If you have a CCW it pretty much means you must also have a clean background. Background checks usually take a long time, and this might actually expedite your process a tad.

Not necessarily. Every BI for every department has to go through a CA POST standard checklist. Every single time. Even if you are a lateral. You can take an existing background and update it but it is still by no means a fast process because you have to still talk to the same people to see if anything changed and then also check on all the new info.

If a background for a lateral applicant that already has a full CA POST background check is not expedited much, it won't help any to have a CCW either. The only thing that speeds up a background is if you are 21, never had a job, lived at home all your life, and never done anything other than go to school and go home. Even then, that takes about a month for the background alone... (fastest one I have seen).

Of course, it's also up to the BI and the admin on how much they want you and how deep they want to go. They can do the cursory minimum and speed it up and be lazy and not hit every single reference or contact... or they can go through every single comma and period on your app for traces of cocaine, but that is not a function of having a CCW or not.

When I applied to be a cop the first time in CA, I didn't have a CCW and my process went pretty fast for back then (when departments were picky and some departments openly proclaimed they take 1 year to process from start to finish)... then I moved out of state and got a Nevada CCW (shall issue), then moved back and reapplied to be a LEO... didn't expedite me any.

Personally... I think it's a huge waste of resources and time for everyone involved, including the departments. If it is all supposed to be done to the same state POST standards, then it should be acceptable to all departments who use POST standards. Why start over every single time? Start where the last one left off for laterals. Some departments I asked said it's for liability so they can show they did their own due diligence, some don't trust other departments, some think they do a better background, etc. It is what it is.