There are many young people who know without a doubt that they are going to become a cop when they get older. Maybe their father, mother, uncle, aunt or other family member is a police officer and they want to continue the tradition. Whatever the reason is, it is very important for a young person to realize that there are certain criteria that a person must possess in order to become a police officer.
Many police agencies are taking a good look at an applicants credit history to make sure that they are hiring responsible individuals. Some people will point out that a person's credit history has nothing to do with the job that they will be filling. They figure that if a person has the training, passes the phycology test and has the overall intelligence to be a good police officer then they should be given the opportunity. This is very rational thinking, but many police agencies do not even consider hiring applicants that have a poor credit history.
Whether a person agrees with this or not is not the subject here. The point of this article is to inform those who would like to become police officers that it is important to not ruin your credit. When a police agency notices that an applicant has poor credit, it is a sign to them that the applicant may have bad judgment and is irresponsible.
It is important to point out that a police agency will sometimes still hire an applicant with poor credit. They will want an explanation of it though. If an applicant lost their job due to a suffering economy, got hit with a major medical bill or went through a divorce that caused their credit to plummet, some agencies will still consider hiring them. With that said, they must really be convinced as anyone could tell a sorry story.
If possible, it is always best to go in with a good credit history. This will show the department that an individual is responsible and makes good decisions in their life. It has been reported at some police agencies that up to fifty percent of applicants are disqualified because of their past credit history. Another reason that some departments are leery of hiring people with bad credit is that it increases the chance of having corrupt officers. Police agencies sometimes worry that those who are in serious debt and being hounded by creditors will be more likely to take bribes and participate in other unethical actions.
Every police department is different and handles who they hire in their own particular manner. There are some police agencies that will go by the credit score alone and ask no questions. By looking at that credit score, that is all they need to know to judge someone. This is usually the larger or mid-sized police departments. For some of the smaller departments, a credit score may not even be a factor at all.
Some agencies do not care as much that someone has bad credit, but they want to see that an individual is making an effort to pay off their debts. If they have a continuous payment flow over the past six months, a police department may let the bad credit score slide. They just do not want to hire people who do not care and make no effort at all to pay back their debts.
It can be very disappointing for a person to work hard toward a career that they want to do only to be told that they cannot pursue it because of their credit history. This is a situation that nobody wants to be in. The best thing that a person can do is to not put themselves in that situation. This is one of the main reasons that a person will want to establish their credit and make sure that they maintain a good credit history throughout the years. All communities need good qualified police officers, and it is a sad loss when we lose an individual that would fit the shoes well due to a few financial mistakes tghat they made.
