Law Enforcement Employment After an Expungement in Another State

Georgia

In 2006 I was charged with forgery. I was placed in a pre-trial intervention program. When I finished this program the charge was dismissed and the arrest was expunged. Could someone explain to me what this paragraph under Florida law means. Would I qualify?

not have been convicted of any felony or of a misdemeanor involving perjury or false statement. Any person who, after July 1, 1981, pleads guilty or nolo contendere to, or is found guilty of a felony, or of a misdemeanor involving perjury or a false statement, shall not be eligible for employment or appointment as an officer, not-withstanding suspension of sentence or withholding of adjudication.

I know when I read it, it seems to only mention perjury. I think I am interpreting it wrong. Also the last sentence speaks about not-withstanding suspension of sentence or withholding of adjudication.

What does that mean?

Based on your post, it appears that you (and/or your attorney) convinced the judge to agree to the equivalent of “probation before judgment” or “PBJ” in lieu of a conviction for forgery.

You may want to re-check the law in your state. In many, if not most, jurisdictions which allow PBJs or the equivalent, the record of your arrest and the dismissal of the charges – you were never “convicted” – would not be automatically expunged. In these jurisdictions, the affected individual has to file a subsequent motion to expunge the arrest and related records. Otherwise, an employer can discover your arrest record. Moreover, absent an actual expungement order, you have an obligation to disclose the fact you have an arrest record if asked.

In sum, unless you have a copy of an expungement order in your possession, you should probably confer with an experienced local attorney to determine conclusively whether your arrest record information has indeed been expunged.

You also want to confer with Florida counsel regarding the interpretation of the foregoing provision. An argument could be made that you do not have a conviction. However, the clause “notwithstanding . . . withholding of adjudication” suggests this provision nevertheless applies to “non-conviction” PBJs.

Law enforcement employers are frequently allowed by law to “look behind the curtain” at dismissed charges and even “discovered” expunged charges when making hiring decisions. IMHO, your best chance to minimize adverse impact of your arrest record is (1) to assure your arrest record is already expunged or (2) to take steps to have it expunged in the near future.

Thank you

Also the arrest has been expunged already.

Expungement won't matter, because expungement doesn't erase records, it simply limits who can SEE them and under what circumstances. Expungement also doen't impact internal records of various agencies, nor can it function to "unpublish" that which is already in the public domain (such as a jail's daily booking log, newspaper reports, etc.). Law enforcement WILL know about the charge, because law enforcement background checks go WAY beyond just querying automated record systems. They'll go directly to agencies where you've lived, worked, etc. and will look at ANY records where your name appears, whether a formal report or not, from the time you called in to report an annoying dog barking in the middle of the night, to the arrest in question (take it from a person who helps investigators in processing these requests for state law enforcement background investigation for new employees). While I can't speak for other states, Florida agencies tend to avoid ANYTHING related to false statement, perjury, forgery, or ANY other manifestation where "truthfulness" in ANY form is an issue. You'd be better off to have a couple of old DUI's than a "truthfulness" issue, including forgery. Most police agencies simply can't take the risk of every case you'd ever work getting dismissed because a defense attorney implicates you in framing their client, then whips out evidence of your prior arrest for forgery (regardless of the expungment). Of course the agency that you quoted doesn't specifically spell out forgery as an automatic rejection item, so you can always always apply and see what happens, but having worked for city, county, and state law enforcement in FL, I can tell you that I've yet to meet anyone hired with a forgery charge in their background.

Even if you might not be automatically disqualified based on the disposition of your case, a potential employer will have serious problems with the forgery. These are crimes of moral turpitude and can result in serious problems with your ability to credibility ... not a good thing for an officer. If an agency hires you, any defense attorney that discovers this crime in your past will likely be able to use it to cast doubt on your credibility and render you ineffective.

So, even if the state doesn't bar you from employment, potential employing agencies are going to be REALLY concerned about it.

Hopefully you have several years of good works, a strong employment history, an education, and a stellar background since that time to help counterbalance it.