Dear dablinkguy,
Thanks for your very interesting question!
For the California Highway Patrol, I?m afraid the use of marijuana in
the past year IS a problem.
The CHP Conduct Requirements state that the candidate may have
no felony convictions, and must have ?good personal conduct.? The good
personal conduct is ascertained in an oral interview and in a
background investigation. As you mentioned, in the interview and in
the background investigation they will ask you questions and look into
the recency and
frequency of illegal drug use, and arrests and felony convictions.
I spoke with an officer in the Background Investigation section of the
CHP in Sacramento. He told me that if you have had any marijuana
USAGE in the last year that WOULD automatically disqualify you.
However, if the usage hasn?t occurred for 3 or 4 years, it would be
safe to apply. By, the way, I asked if lie-detector tests are used to
see if you are lying during the interview. He said no, but that they do
use ?computer voice stress analysis? to detect whether the applicant
is stressed and possibly lying about particular questions. And, of
course, they do independent investigation to see if you?re truthful.
This answer is moot right now, because there is a hiring freeze
for new cadets, due to the state of California?s budget problems.
It is unclear right now when the freeze will come off, no one really
knows.
If you have any further CHP questions you want to ask, the phone number
for the Cadet Hiring Unit is:
(916) 375-2180, 8-5 Pacific time.
Education minimum requirements for the CHP candidate are high school
diploma or GED. It is also ?highly desirable? that the candidate have an
Associate of Arts degree or higher. For the AA degree, the number of
liberal arts courses is greater. An AS degree is an Associate of Science
degree. This degree requires a greater number of science classes.
The officer I spoke with said that to become a patrol officer, the
minimum requirement is enough. Only when you are looking for
promotions do the higher degrees come into play.
Qualifications for a CHP Officer are listed at:
http://www.chp.ca.gov/recruiting/html/oqualifications.html
I checked with the Los Angeles Police Department Recruitment Office for
the same information. They are actually hiring 400 people this year, more
than any other police force on the West Coast.
The officer I spoke to told me that marijuana use would not necessarily
be an AUTOMATIC disqualifier, but it reflects on your maturity and
respect for the law, and would hurt you. At another point in the
conversation, he said that if you want to be a police officer, drug use
is ?the kiss of death.? He said if you stay clean for another year or
two before applying, that would help.
The lengthy LAPD testing and interviewing process is detailed on this
website:
http://www.lacity.org/PER/pdprocess.pdf
The LAPD does use the polygraph in its interviews of candidates.
The polygraph exam is apparently 3 hours long!
The education requirement for LAPD is, like the CHP, a high school
education or GED. Higher degrees, such as the AA or BA would give you
a higher salary.
The site to look at for requirements for the LAPD position is:
http://www.lacity.org/PER/Safety.htm
I also checked with the Humboldt County Personnel Department,
to see if that (notoriously) tolerant area might be more lenient.
The woman in the personnel department said they are not recruiting
for Sheriff?s deputies right now, but that marijuana use in the last
year would be ?an issue, that is pretty recent.? She thought that
marijuana use that recently would be an issue with just about any
law enforcement agency, perhaps with some variation.
Humboldt County employment information can be found at:
http://www.co.humboldt.ca.us/personel/persinfo.htm
Job Line at (707) 476-2357.
I also checked the San Francisco Sheriff?s Dept for their policies at:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=san+francisco+Sheriff
On the ?Selection Procedures? page, they state pretty baldly:
?Any indication of controlled substance use will be cause for
disqualification.?
(://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=san+francisco+Sheriff)
In my research I came across a number of Police Academy courses
offered at community and city colleges. Some of these are:
Contra Costa Community College.
Graduation from this program prepares you to work as a ?police reserve?
officer, or with the county probation or juvenile hall.
http://www.contracosta.cc.ca.us/departments/832index.html#information
The screening questions for this course ask ?Are you addicted to
alcohol, narcotics, or any dangerous drugs?,? which you could probably
answer correctly.
Other colleges which also offer police academies are:
Fresno City College
http://www.fresnocitycollege.com/policeacademy/basicpoliceacad.html
Palomar College
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:pPpGcnpuU9QJ:www.palomar.edu/policeacademy/+community+college+%2B++police+academy+%2B+california&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Fullerton College
http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:faq6_1j1sLQJ:staffwww.fullcoll.edu/sgibson/extendedacad.htm+community+college+%2B++police+academy+%2B+california&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
And you can find others by Googling ?community college + police academy+
California.?
The above Police Officer Standards & Training (POST) certified courses
MIGHT help you get a job with a smaller police department that doesn?t
have its own academy. However, you'd have to pay for the course, and
with the large police departments, you?d still have to go through
their training program. In either case, you?d probably have to have
been
clean from drugs for a couple of years before being hired.
I could check with hundreds of municipalities throughout the state
as to whether your drug use would automatically disqualify you.
But the bottom line is, even if it doesn?t disqualify you, it will
hurt you. If you are competing with a good candidate without any
drug use, you would probably lose out.
My suggestion would be, if you are serious about becoming a peace
officer, stay off drugs completely for the next two years. During
that time,get your AA or the most education you can get- computer
skills and a second language will help you too. Then, when you can
honestly answer ?no drug use!? you will be in a strong position to be
hired by the large city or county officer training academies.
These academies pay well while you are training, and you have a
guaranteed job when you graduate.
I hope this answers your question. If there is anything unclear
or incomplete, don?t hesitate to hit the ?Clarify Answer? button before
rating my work.
Good luck in your career!
cath-ga
search strategy:
on Google:
California Highway Patrol
Los Angeles Police Dept.
Humboldt County Sheriff Dept.
San Francisco Police Dept.
community colleges + California
community college + police academy |
