Will arrest affect fire career?

Hello all,

Just looking to get some insight on a certain situation, I was recently arrested and looking for some input on how this could affect my chosen career path. The other party involved is not pressing charges at all and we've been talking since. However i still have a court date to attend to. It is my ONLY offense. I have not been in trouble with the law and had a clean background up until this incident. It is something i need to get off my chest and see what some of you have for advice. I hope that since everything was dropped and at my court date nothing will happen and i can just expunge the arrest right away. Also any advice for what i should do when applying for future fire depts regarding the application process.


Thank you

1 you do not say what you were arrested for

2 you still have a court date to show up for
Which Normaly means the charges have not been dropped

3 our app asks have you ever been arrested, so in your case the answer is yes

4 a sponge does not always erase an arrest record, there are so many private and public records on the web that sometimes it still shows up


5 you do not state if misdemeanor , felony , or other

Their is a thread on here right now about arrests and getting hired. But that person has multiple convictions and a felony. If you have a felony, forget the fire service. You will likley never get hired.

As for an arrest?? An arrest should not be that big of a deal. It's the conviction that can hurt you. I have seen job applications that have asked a question in three different ways:

1. Have you ever been arrested?

2. Have you ever been convicted (Found Guilty) of a crime?

3. Have you ever been arrested and/or found Guilty of a crime?

If your case gets dimissed, then you could answer no if question 2 or 3 were asked. But not question 1. Be careful with answering. Many people think if a case is dismissed that that they don't have to answer YES to "have you ever been arrested" because they assume that a case being dismissed means the record is gone. But it's not. I know several people who got in trouble for that.

And beware of "the case was sealed". Implying that it will not show up in records. I had a buddy join the Navy who had a "sealed case" for a BS burglary when we was 16. When he joined the Navy and they asked have you ever been charged with a crime, he said "No". Because he figured with a sealed case, it would not come up. Well, it did and he was thrown out.

What were you a arrested for? Since you have not stated what the charge was, I'm going to have to take an educated guess. With my 12 years of duty with the Sheriff's Office the only type of crime, that comes to mind, that you could be charge with when the victim does not wish to press charges, would be any type of Domestic Violence, Assault on a Female, Violation of a Protection Order, Communicating Threats etc. or Public Affray or any of the other Assault type charges.

SO. .. . . . .. . Before I can give you any advice on how to proceed, I need just a little bit more information.