Late one afternoon, while working as a police sergeant, I noticed one of the part-time officers (a 24-year-old man named Paul) walk into the station and ask if he could talk to Mike, an officer who was on duty at the time. I told Paul that Mike was out on patrol, but he could wait until Mike came in for a break.

Paul looked pale and visibly shaken, so I asked if I could do anything for him. Paul asked me if he could speak to me privately. I told him, "Of course" and we went to a private area of the police station.

Paul told me earlier that afternoon three hunters had come onto his property and started shooting at the geese around the pond near his house, then the hunters began shooting at his dog, wounding her. He said he yelled at the hunters to stop shooting, and get off the property and that's when the hunters began to shoot at him. He grabbed his AK47 assault rifle and began firing his rifle into the air. Paul said, at this point the hunters ran away. Paul told me one of the hunters ran back to his car and called the state police.

Paul said the state police arrived within minutes and confiscated his rifle and other guns he had in the house. The police arrested him. Paul said he was released from custody after being able to prove he was a federally licensed assault rifle dealer.

Although this incident had nothing to do with our police department, it still reflected badly on us, because Paul was one of our part-time officers. This incident was headline news the next day. Paul was put on suspension and eventually terminated from employment. After doing a more extensive background check, our Human Resources Department found that Paul had been expelled from the college he was attending because he had an AK-47 assault rifle under his bed in his dorm room. Paul never stated on his application, that he was a federally licensed dealer of AK-47 rifles or that he had been expelled from college because of the rifle incident.

This true story illustrates the need for better and deeper background checks. In this instance, the Human Resource Department did not do a thorough enough background check to reveal Paul had left out important information on his application. This incident could have cost our department more than just a black eye to our reputation.

The Best Always & Stay Safe,

~ Sue R. Edwards

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