How important is the background investigation phase of the hiring process to become a police officer?
I actually have a pretty good story here, that is a prime example of why this phase of the hiring process is so important. I do consulting work on the side and had a client that wanted me to share some information about how he was nearly burned because of an improperly conducted background check.I spoke with a client recently regarding a very sticky situation that he found himself in after hiring their newest officer. My client called looking for some advice, probably more like reassurance because he knew what he had to do, about an officer that needed to go. When he said u201cto gou201d the tone of his voice assured me that one way or another he was getting this officer out of his department. He went on to explain to me that this officer had worked on his department for exactly 2 hours! What? u201cYes, that is correct 2 fucking hoursu201d was the response I got to my question. Wow, I said, that has to be some kind of record or something. My client, usually a pretty jovial guy, was in no mood for jokesu2026no matter how minor.I asked my client if wanted to or was able to talk to me about what exactly had caused him to change his mind about an officer that started on his department just hours earlier. I know that police officers make mistakes, but very rarely does an officer do something with-in his first few hours on the job that rises to this level of discipline. I was really curious at this point, so I was very pleased when he said that he would share the details of the situation with me. He also told me that he wanted me to put something on my blog, several months down the road, which would serve as a warning to other departments. He just asked that I donu2019t use names or locations in the post. Now I really wanted to know what was going on. So here is what he told me happened:u201cDuring our last round of hiring we had many applicants for 1 position that we needed to fill. In going through the applications we found a couple of guys who had already gone through the police academy and were working at departments just outside of our area. We have a higher starting salary, so it was normal for us to get applicants from officers working at these departments. Hiring someone who was already trained saves us 4-6 months in getting that officer ready for solo patrol, so it is a huge advantage if we find someone good.One of the applicants, who was academy trained, made it through the entire process and appeared to be a good fit for our department. He had been an officer for a couple of years, didnu2019t have any disciplinary record at his previous department, and was looking to increase his pay to support his growing family. We were thrilled that we were going to be able to hire an officer who was already well trained and could be ready for solo patrol after completing our FTO program. Because of the schedule at the academy, if we hired someone we needed to send it would be an additional 5 months before we got the officer back to patrol. Things were looking good, so after he passed his medical and psychological tests we offered him the position.Of course he was thrilled to accept and we set his swear-in date for a couple of days later. On his swear in date he showed up on time, well groomed, wearing a suit and tie, with wife and young daughter present for the occasion. We swore him in, congrats were given all around, and he was sent on to HR to fill out all of the paperwork. He was slated to begin his FTO period the next morning and was very excited to be starting his career with us. After the short swearing in ceremony we did our normal press and social media releases welcoming our new officer to the family. All was right with the world or so it seemed.About three hours later I received a voice mail from one of our undercover officers who was working in the drug unit. He told me that there was a very important issue that we needed to speak about and that he needed to see me right away. I had a couple of meetings scheduled that afternoon, but he was insistent that this couldnu2019t wait and that this wasnu2019t something that he wanted to discuss on the phone. I sensed the urgency here, so I told him to come up to my office right away and that I would push my meetings back so that we could speak.Ten minutes later my undercover arrives, knocks on my office door, comes in and asks if he can close the door behind him, indicating that this need to be a private conversation. Shut the door, have a seat, and please tell me just what is going on here, I replied. When he was finished speaking I was left not only stunned, but sick to stomach as well. I had a million thoughts going through my mind and needed a few minutes before I spoke so that I properly responded to what I was just told. What finally came out of my mouth was I just swore that piece of shit in and he is supposed to start in his FTO period in the morning. We need to get what you told me verified and if it turns out to be true we take action immediately. What I was told, by my undercover officer was this:We were working with one of our confidential informants, a younger female who is a heroin addict, getting her wired so that she could make a buy from a dealer we were trying to arrest. She is cooperating with us, trying to get clean, and is being paid when she gives us good information. He said that she has been a great informant and has always proven credible. He told me that out of the blue the girl says that she will only continue working with the unit if the new officer doesnu2019t find out. He asked her what she meant and was told that she did not want the officer, she just saw on facebook, finding out she was working with the drug unit.Taken aback, he said that he asked her why that would be an issue. She initially danced around the issue, but when pressed the truth came out. She explained that this guy, who she knew by name, had been paying her and another addict friend of hers for sexual favors. She told him that if they were short on money for drugs, they would call him up, and he would pay them a set amount for various sex acts. When asked, she told him that he knew the money was for drugs, that this had happened several times over the course of a long period, and that she knew of two other girls that he had paid for sex.My undercover officer explained that he took all of the initial information, and immediately contacted me. He said that outside of one other undercover officer nobody else inside the department knew about this information. I explained to him that I was going to need him to fast track this investigation and get as much of the information from all of these girls before he stared his FTO program in the morning. He told me he would do what he could. I thanked him for bringing this to me so quickly, and told him to keep me posted on where the investigation was leading.As he left my office, to get to work of the case, I just sat there in silent disgust for a few minutes. How did this not get uncovered in the background investigation? If he is taking advantage of vulnerable females now what is it going to be like when he works for us? How can he bring his wife and young daughter in here and then pay for sex with heroin addicts? Did he not care about the dangers of this behavior? These were just a few of the questions running through my mind. After processing everything, I called you and you affirmed what I already knew. If this all turned out to be true this guy could not be an officer on my department.I heard from my undercover officer throughout the afternoon and night and he kicked ass to get everything wrapped up and presented to me first thing in the next morning. I reviewed all of the statements, reports, and evidence and found that without a doubt this guy was guilty of exactly what the girl reported. He was either going to resign or I would be asking the Merit Board to fire him.The day shift had started 90 minutes earlier and this new hire of ours was still learning to log into all of our computer systems when I called him and the shift Captain to report to my office. I brought the Captain in first and explained the situation to him. We then called the still smiling new hire into my office and I calmly explained the information that I come to light. Before I even finished going through everything he asked if he could just resign and leave. I told him that I thought that would be best and the Captain took him to write his resignation letter. In less than two hours total the guysu2024 career was over.u201dWow, I told my client, that really sucks. I know how much time and effort is put into hiring officers, but we donu2019t always get it right. I asked him where he thought their process had failed and what could be done to make as certain, as possible, that something like this doesnu2019t happen again. He said he wasnu2019t 100 percent sure about that and this was the reason for his call. I asked him if he had reviewed the background investigation of this now former officer and was told that yes he had. I asked how complete it was and if it addressed any issues with his polygraph test. I was told that he didnu2019t have any issues on his polygraph tests and that he background looked pretty good to him. I knew my client didnu2019t have any experience in doing background investigations and relied on what his investigation bureau provided him.I suspected that this might be the problem and asked him to prme with a copy of the blank background investigation form they use as well any policies regarding conducting the same. He emailed them to me a short time later and what he provided was pretty standard for most departments, but was very outdated. One of the most glaring omissions, on the form, was the lack of questions regarding social media activities. There were a few other points that needed updating as well, but nothing too major. The policy was generic and only required the investigators to contact listed references and employers. No requirement to develop unlisted references is a grave mistake when drafting a background check policy.After writing out some of my suggestions I contacted my client and suggested we meet for lunch to discuss this. I asked that before our lunch he ask his investigations bureau a few questions: How long is spent on each background investigation, how many background investigations are handled by each investigator at a time, and how quickly is the turnaround time expected when these cases are assigned.When we met for lunch he told me that he asked the head of the investigations bureau the questions I had asked. He said that as far as time spent on a background investigation it varied between 5 and 10 hours. As many as 4 or 5 at a time are sometimes assigned to each investigator, and that they like to get these done quickly, within a week or so, so that they can move past this step and get people hired. I asked him if he knew if the investigators were working other criminal cases, at the same time they were being assigned background investigations. He thought so, but wasnu2019t certain, so he sent a text and quickly had the answer. Yes, they are working criminal cases as well.I explained to my client that he had his answer, your background investigations and investigators are failing you. Now that we had clearly identified how someone like this slipped through the cracks, we focused on making sure that it would be much more difficult for someone to slip through the cracks in the future. My answer to himu2026DIG DEEPER.I gave him several suggestions what I saw as his main issues and tasked him with the responsibility to come up with some solutions. Here is where I told him to start:Social Media: almost everything about a lot of people can be gleaned from social media. It is a powerful tool that can send your background investigators into many a rabbit hole. He is a bit older, and only uses facebook to talk with his out of state grandkids, other than that he had no idea what social media could do for them. His head of investigations came through the ranks with him and while a little more fluent in social media, didnu2019t truly realize what could be found.Who is doing the investigations: I explained that he needed to look at having one or two officers assigned to doing the background investigations. Get them trained well and limit their cases to only background investigations when they are needed. I explained that if they are getting hammered with criminal cases, that these backgrounds simply will not take priority. They will get half-assed and he will find himself in the same situation in the future.How many backgrounds are being assigned: My client had told me that they send in the top 15% from the physical/written testing in for a background investigation when they are going through the hiring process. He explained that it was usually between 15 and 20 candidates. I was aware he had 5 investigators, who worked on backgrounds, so this was between 3 and 4 background investigations per investigator if nobody was on vacation. As we continued on this point I was able to discover that nearly all of their hires came from the top 5% of the testing. Therefore he was wasting an enormous amount of man hours doing backgrounds on people they were not going to hire.How many hours are spent on an investigation: I have attended several background investigation courses and know that the industry standard is a minimum of 40 hours. I explained to him that this should span over a couple of weeks so that word gets around that you are conducting a background on a person. I told him that he had no idea how much information would come in, unsolicited, once word got out that they were looking to hire someone. I gave him several examples and could tell that his mind was working overtime.The bottom line I told him was that he and his troops needed to keep the mindset of dig deeper when doing a background investigation. The cost of hiring a bad officer will be much, much, higher than putting the time and effort into properly conducting a background investigation.
