Affect of dismissed court case and background check

[RLB211]

Hello all,

I'm looking for some input here. Im looking to see what kind of affect a dismissed court case due to being arrested would have with me and getting hired. It stems from an A&B which i got charged for even though the other person did not want to press charges. All and all from both sides i'm being told that the case will be dismissed. First time offense. I have no prior hx or arrests nor convictions of any sort (traffic violations etc.) I plan on trying to get it sealed but not sure how the BI would look at it? Even though it's sealed it would probably still be a good idea to bring it up during an interview so i dont have any problems down the road.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you

[BCLepore]

Don't waste your time trying to get it sealed as we will have access to everything. The issue is not whether or not the case is prosecuted, the issue is whether or not you are a risk to a fire department. Just because the courts do not find you guilty does not mean you are innocent.
The background investigator will spend a great deal of time speaking to the arresting officers, victim, and witnesses.

[fire5555]

Same advice, and also some applications read "have you ever been arrested ""

With no exceptions if it lead to prosecution or not

Hopefully it was not a family related person

[flashpo1nt]

Exactly how BCLepore put it. It is a risk analysis. I serve on my fd's board as a firefighter representative.

If you were ever had a run in with the police in the first place, that's a HUGE strike against you. Courts dismiss things all the time and work out deals and such. The disposition doesn't really matter to a point. The CHARGES are what matter.

The fact that you have an A&B charge is quite precarious due to the nature of our job. Humans draw assumptions, and one (or more) board member(s) may think that you are prone to anger issues or violence. Our job involves dealing with irate, violent, and disrespectful citizens frequently, and maybe even firefighters that act a fool.

Don't lie about it though, that's for sure. The feeling of getting your application thrown out in the middle of the process is worse than being told no straight up.

If you were to come to my interview, I would want to know these things:

(1) What happened to cause the charges to be brought on in the first place.
I would directly ask this to the candidate.
(2)What you have done to better yourself.
I would not ask this and would see if you actually care enough about your moral character or the job to see if you took classes such as anger management, or aplogized, etc.
(3) Is this person prone to violence