Reserve Office and background criteria

[DavidRSA]

While looking for a LEO position last year I didnt make it because of - I think - the items in the Preliminary Background Questionnaire.

So my question is: would this also dq me from becoming a reserve officer? Going into LE was something I had a passion for - not necessarily for the income alone - so I would still like to do it on a volunteer basis while working as an attorney.

Do you LEO guys think I could get in as a reserve office or would I be dq'd on the same basis as a fulltime officer applicant?

On another note: I was not formally dq'd, I was just never selected to go to the "next step". One agency told me I was still eligible for a year but would not be proceeding with the current hiring push, another told me I could try again in a year. The LASD told me because I grew up abroad, the background would take a year or more. Would the background for a reservist take the same amount of time?

Thanks for any advice you may have.

[softscrubb]

My understanding is the hiring process is the same for full-time or reserve.

Most departments have automatic disqualifiers.

The most obvious are the heavy drugs: Meth, heroin, ecstasy, any hallucinagen...basically if it a felony level drug...any use is automatic.

Finances, arrests, speeders and discipline issues are also big time disqualifiers.

I think beside the actual drug usage it calls into question judgement and accountability.

I don't think it necessarily makes you a bad guy, but probably pretty unhirable.

Good luck!!

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[mej16489]

I've never heard of any agency having 'lower standards' for part-time reserves vs their full-time LEOs.

[Falconis]

Look at it this way, you're trying to get hired on as a cop.

[DavidRSA]

I would like to add that nothing in my past was categorized as an automatic disqualifier. So for example when I was one of hundreds of applicants applying to Santa Barbara PD for their 3 - 5 positions, I did not make it but am still on an eligible list. I think the main reason I didn't make it was that there are so few open positions. Which I why I am hoping that I would have more of a chance getting a position as a reserve officer.

[Tallship]

If you have no background disqualifiers, then yes, it is much easier to get hired on as a reserve. Generally, there are no limits to the number of reserve officers a department may have, unlike full-time paid positions. Go for it!

[ryang]

There are practical limits in terms of the cost of going through the hiring process (background, poly, psych, etc.) plus equipment if they issue all your duty gear. Relatively cheap compared to the value but I have heard of departments putting hiring freezes even on reserves.

[epilepticninja]

The two agencies that I worked at as a reserve, the hiring process was exactly the same including the physical agility, medical, oral boards, written, background, etc. And don't get discouraged. I wasn't picked up at the first two places I applied too. Then the next two agencies I applied to I was hired. And one of them was an agency that didn't pick me up on my initial application. I went back with three years of experience and they hired me then. Getting into LE can be a strange business. You have to be patient.

[Deltadude]

Why has growing abroad has anything to do? Did you grow up as kid or thru your teenage years?

Just curious.

[Notorious]

Everything that can delay your backgrounds has an effect. We were able to hire a kid who was 22 at the time, lived at home, never had a job, and there was nothing to do on his backgrounds... took 2 months from application to hire.

Then you get the guy who had a ton of jobs and lived a few places, including out of state, and you can see how much longer that background process will take, just to find all the people listed alone can take more than a month!

[retired]

To add to what Notorious said, I was in a group of 250 applicants that were broken down into groups of 10 to take the PT test. One of the guys in my group passed the test; heck, he almost ripped the arms off of the dummy on the drag being so big and strong (former Charger player) like I did.

Since I had lived in Ca. for all but 2 years of my life and those two years was as a baby in Chicago, my BR took a very short time. Since he lived for quite awhile in another state, he did not begin the academy until a year after me.

[BigDogatPlay]

In my current phase of life I am a hiring manager in the private sector and several of my hires have been foreign born. Backgrounds when education and / or a significant part of life have been done overseas take much longer. It routinely takes a couple of months, minimum, just to verify education and our pre-employment is not nearly as rigorous as what an LE background is.

[Notorious]

Foreign education is not just harder to verify, but you also have to get foreign transcript evaluations done to judge equivalency if that is necessary for the job, which adds expense and time.