Demystifying the

Background
Investigation Process:
What You Can Expect
When Applying for a
Law Enforcement Job
By Charles Russo, professor of criminal justice at American
Military University
For five years, I served as the background investigator at a county
sheriffs department. After that, I was hired by a municipal police
department and was immediately assigned as their background
investigator for the next three years before finally escaping the
office to return to road patrol.
Frequently, job seekers would ask me the same questions time
and again and it became apparent to me that no one had really
taken the time to explain the background investigation process to
individuals applying for jobs in law enforcement and corrections.
While each department may conduct the background
investigation a bit differently, there are many commonalities that
apply to all criminal justice agencies.
Step 1: The Application Process
First you must decide to submit an application for a sworn position

with an agency. If your application is incomplete, you may receive

a letter saying so, along with another application packet to
complete. However, in some agencies, the application is logged
as incomplete and you will never hear from that agency again.
If the application is complete when it comes into the office, it is
frequently logged into a background investigation spreadsheet
and the background investigator starts a folder for your
application.
Step 2: Background Investigator Initial Screening Process
The background investigator now gets to work. He or she will
begin by first pulling all your records. If the agency is only hiring
personnel who have already enrolled in or completed the law
enforcement academy for part-time/full-time positions and for
those without the academy civilian officer positions (traffic control
specialists), the background investigator will go into the states
law enforcement/corrections record management system (e.g.
Floridas Automated Training Management System, ATMS).
Investigators will use these databases to check your agency
employment history and your state certification.
These records show the background investigator all the agencies
you have worked for in the state, if any, and the reason for
separation (voluntary separation, terminated, under
investigation). If your record shows terminated or under
investigation the background investigator will often contact the
agency to determine the cause of separation.
If you are a male, the background investigator will check to see if
you have registered for the Selective Service. The background
investigator will then run your name through the National Crime
Information Center (NCIC) as well as the state database (e.g. FCIC
in Florida) to see if you have any criminal history.
The investigator will also pull your driver license history to see
what violations you have collected. If you have a staple in your
driver license historymeaning theres more than one pagethat
is not good as it often indicates a DUI, suspension, or insurance
problems.
The background investigator may also pull a background
information report on you that includes everything from property
ownership to relatives to places you lived when you were a kid,

and compare this information to your application.

If you were prior military, the investigator will send for your
records. At this point, if you are not certified as an officer or were
terminated for cause or about to be terminated for cause, if you
are not registered for Selective Service and should be, if you have
a criminal history, have issues with your driver license history, or
your report does not match with your application, generally the
background investigator will stop processing your application and
issue you a thanks, but no thanks letter.
Step 3: In-Person Interviews with Department Officers
If you pass the previous phase, you will move on if the agency has
an opening. The background investigator may start this phase
with an oral interview. Typically the background investigator does
not participate in the oral interview, but may escort you into the
interview and remain in the room during the interview.
You will be asked a series of questions and the agency will gauge
your responses. The agency may consist of a line employee
(officer/deputy), a supervisor (corporal/sergeant), a manager
(lieutenant/captain), or some variation of these ranks/individuals.
Those in the interview will issue a score and a yes or no
response.
A no means you get a thanks, but no thanks letter. A score
and yes means the background investigator has more work to
do and thus he or she begins the next phase of the investigation
process.
Step 4: Checking Your ReferencesThe background
investigator will start the process by contacting your references,
checking your places of employment, and contacting your
neighbors. Their goal at this phase is to confirm the information
you have self-reported and find out more about you.
He/she will contact the law enforcement agencies where you
live/have lived and ask them to check their records for any
contacts with you. The background investigator will contact all
agencies you have worked for either by phone or in person and
pull your employment jacket.
This stage requires a lot of work and takes time to complete. The
background investigator plays a lot of phone tag with people

leaving messages back and forth

and does a bit of driving in some cases. During this phase, the
background investigator may also drop by and see you without
warning to verify how you live.
He/she may also contact academy instructors and even your
former professors. If he/she discovers any differences between
your application and realitysuch as poor employment history
or if the investigator is unable to contact any of your references,
then he/she will likely send you a thanks, but no thanks letter.
Sometimes he/she may know something isnt right, but has not
been able to turn up any evidence. When this occurs, he/she will
dig deeper and deeper until what is giving him/her that uneasy
feeling is discovered or discounted.
Step 5: Medical, Polygraph and Psychological ExamsIf you
have made it this far, consider yourself in really good shape as
the vast majority of applicants do not get to this phase. Now
begins the next phase of the process: your medical screening,
drug screening, polygraph and psychological exam.
Your psychological exam may be a paper and pencil 150+
question test and an interpretation session with a doctor, which
will generate a report to the agency. The information in the report
may vary from a matrix that ranks you in one of three categories
(low risk, medium risk, and high risk) to a paragraph that states
the individual is deemed fit or unfit for the duties and
responsibilities of the position.
Agencies want low risk, they dont want high risk, and they will
often take a good look at medium risk scores. High-risk individuals
have a probability of finding themselves on the front page of the
newspaper and not for good reasons. Medium-risk individuals may
get on that front page, while low-risk individuals have a
probability of being on the front page, but for the good reasons.
The medical and drug screen are pretty cut and dryno drugs in
your system and you will not drop dead tomorrow. The question to
be answered is: Are you able to physically perform the tasks
associated with being a sworn officer?
The polygraph consists of an extensive interview followed by the
attachment of sensors to the body. The interviewer asks a series
of questions and observes the results on the polygraph. If no

deception is reported and no new information emerges from this

process, you are good to be hired for a position. If the agency has
more successful applicants than openings, they then make a
decision on who to hire full-time and who may receive offers for
reserve/part-time positions.
Conclusion
Going through the application process for a law enforcement
position is a rigorous and time-consuming process. While each
agency does things a bit differently, the process is generally the
same. Every time a background investigator picks up or handles
your application, you run the risk of getting a thanks, but no
thanks letter. It is very easy to get one of those lettersmuch
easier than it is to successfully make it through the process.