My son has been trying to get on with a Denver area police department now for a few years. He's warned us that the back ground check people will be calling and interviewing us in the next two weeks. He wants it so I want it for him even though its not going to help with sleepless nights.

This will be the third time we've been interviewed for this purpose. I'd like to give him the best chance for success. What are these people looking for? Any advice on how to best handle these things from a parents perspective?

With the third interview things are not looking good. Explore other options with him. Smaller police departments are often a stepping stone. Being in the military helps. You have been through this before, just be there for him if things do not work out. Offering him platitudes is ill advised. {Stuff like when one door closes another opens}Good example of a useless platitude.

if it's like the DoD interviews of the 90's, they will try to get the names of "who he associated with" and then use those names to dig deeper.

Good to have some names in advance from, say, his bible study group or kids he did volunteer work with, and not the name of "that kid he knew who was always in trouble"

Answer questions and avoid "overtalking/oversharing".

Do not lie.

Be real and sincere.

These folks are good at "interviewing", and people are not as good at "selling" as they might believe.

Talk to them about him as you would a good employee.

My advice is to get the phone number where the interviewer is calling from, and call them back.
The caller should be agreeable to an in-person interview. Interview by phone, in my opinion, should never be an option. If the interviewer agrees to an in-person interview, when he shows up,
he should show you ID to verify what agency/department he represents.

I've conducted hundreds of interviews of people
seeking employment for federal law enforcement jobs
and interviews by telephone were never an option.

Be truthful, but do not answer a question that they haven't asked.

I don’t know about police departments and their procedures but at the federal level, it’s done in person by the FBI and everybody gets contacted at the same time across all your contacts.

As others have said, be honest, no lying and no oversharing.


The agent who did my first one kept reminding me that I only had to go back 10 years, and some instances, seven.

I like the idea of in person because they can give you small, important cues.

I had to conduct a few phone interviews for my PD when I was on light duty. The background questions are on a list of questions. I did what I was told but complained that phone interviews were not helpful because you couldn’t see the reaction to the question.

We had people applying from Fl and NJ…for a cop job in NC….when the candidate made it thru the BG questions we had them come in for a one on one.

OP, don’t stress it. Answer truthfully…I had several mothers who said they were worried about their son/daughters safety…and that’s the right answer.

With a national shortage of applicants, they could just ask the basic questions without digging for additional information. Good investigators find threads to tug on, and will do an actual thorough investigation. Just depends on the different variables how an individual investigator will conduct his investigation.

I've never done a background investigation, but I've been in the presence of investigators while they were speaking to contacts by phone due to them being too far out of the area for a personal visit. They just went down the line of the standard questions list. Pretty cut and dry.

The reason I asked is because the last interviewer asked a question that I think was odd for a back ground check. She asked what do you admire most about your son. Which got me thinking what more are they after here.

Those questions have been pretty routine for awhile. Finding that the usual questionining raised little the interviewers play psychologist and ask these kinds of questions. Ther are open ended queries designed to reveal some deeper issues about that person's personality.

Answer questions truthfully. .Keep answers short and sweet.. . do not over answer.. as mentioned before maybe starting with a smaller dept then later transfer to the larger dept... best of luck. .........drill sgt.

I've said a number of times if he'd come down here he'd probably get on. Pueblo is begging for officers right now. I've even floated the idea he get on with a jail or prison. A friend of mine did a few years at Pueblo County jail and got on with the State Patrol. He's pretty set up there. Just bought his second house, and his wife has a pretty plum job with the Catholic Church that I don't think she do nearly as well down here.

Correctional officer is a tough job. Federal benefits are good, but the stress is through the roof.

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:
The reason I asked is because the last interviewer asked a question that I think was odd for a back ground check. She asked what do you admire most about your son. Which got me thinking what more are they after here.

It’s just to get you talking…you may say I admire his ability to remain calm when something happens-which leads you explain the incident and the interviewer can learn about the subject.

Most people I spoke to just gave short answered thinking it would help the subject.

It is possible different states and different agencies handle background checks different. In Texas it is required that an applicant fill out a personal history statement which asks questions about absolutely everything. The background investigator then checks to see if everything stated on the personal history statement checks out. That will involve a criminal history check, interviewing employers, references, neighbors, friends, friends those friends mention, etc. Them asking you or anyone else questions such as what do you admire about him is just to get an overall feeling about him as a person and his character.

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:
My son has been trying to get on with a Denver area police department now for a few years. He's warned us that the back ground check people will be calling and interviewing us in the next two weeks. He wants it so I want it for him even though its not going to help with sleepless nights.

This will be the third time we've been interviewed for this purpose. I'd like to give him the best chance for success. What are these people looking for? Any advice on how to best handle these things from a parents perspective?

They are looking for "normal" people, and no red flags.

We look for people with common sense, decent credit, no history or crime or asshole behavior.

Honestly, just be yourself and be honest. If he is a good kid (and since he is your kid, he certainly IS a good kid) then just tell the truth. The "unasked" questions are really "is this person an idiot who is going to make impulsive, stupid decisions and get us sued" and "Are we going to have to worry about this person's off-duty conduct"

The detective doing the background is certainly going to be a pro at reading people and knowing if anyone is full of shit (it's an acquired skill) and will wonder if it seems like you are trying too hard. Seriously.

Just answer the questions and show him how much you love your son, as I know you do.

That said, If it doesn't work out, tell him to come here to St. Louis. I can get him on here if he really wants to do this.

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:
The reason I asked is because the last interviewer asked a question that I think was odd for a back ground check. She asked what do you admire most about your son. Which got me thinking what more are they after here.

That's actually a routine question. PM me and I'll tell you why.

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:
I've said a number of times if he'd come down here he'd probably get on. Pueblo is begging for officers right now. I've even floated the idea he get on with a jail or prison. A friend of mine did a few years at Pueblo County jail and got on with the State Patrol. He's pretty set up there. Just bought his second house, and his wife has a pretty plum job with the Catholic Church that I don't think she do nearly as well down here.

Well, if he wants to move, contact me. We start around 60k