Do West Virginia Citations Show Up In Background Checks

**Joe12349fh** · 06-29-2007, 04:50 PM

Hello,

I reside in NY and in the process of getting into law enforcement (hopefully). when i was 18 i was on a hunting trip in west virginia with my hunting club. one of the members got in trouble with a conservation officer for marijuana. they looked at all of our ID's and gave him a charge right there. nothing else was done/said to everyone else including myself. 3 months later i received a letter from WV dept. of natural resources to call because of a citation was issued. i called and they said they gave me a citation for possession of marijuana under 14 grams. they told me a speeding ticket is worse in west virgina so i didnt fight it. they told me where to send the check and i sent them 80 some dollars. the only paper work i ever saw was that letter asking to call them. will an investigator doing my background see this? i have never signed anything on this or gotten my fingerprints taken. i was not arrested, it was a dept. of natural resources citation. the law enforcement job i am applying for is in NY, not west virginia... thank you so much

**Joe12349fh** · 06-29-2007, 06:02 PM

also, one more note. when i checked to see what is covered under ncic, it said persons who have committed a felony or serious misterminor. so since this was just a citation, that would not be a serious misterminor? since this happened out of state, is the ncic system the only system they check for national background? thank you

**The Prosecutor** · 06-29-2007, 06:18 PM

As one with experience in conducting background checks, I can tell you that your citation IS discoverable, especially since you admitted guilt by paying the fine. Law enforcement agencies may be quite forgiving regarding a petty violation like that if your background is otherwise clean, but they will not forgive a deliberate misrepresentation. If they catch you lying, they'll likely wash you out and there will be a permanent record kept that will be available to any other law enforcement agency that ever runs a background check. Trust me--honestly is the best policy by far.