Accepted But Worried I Might Fail Background Check

[eipb16]

So here is the story. And before you tell me to call the school, I have one chance at this and I want to make sure that I exhaust all legal options first.

So when I was 18 I was with a group of friends and one of them shoplifted something from Wal-Mart. So we all got caught and detained in this tiny little room and even though only one person actually stole from them, all of our names were recorded and the police were called.

So to be clear, nobody actually got charged, not even the actual shoplifter... However, a couple years later I had to go to my local police station and request my record and on it the only thing that popped up was this. It said something like Respond to Theft or something like that and location was Wal-Mart <address>. I don't remember exactly, but point is it was on there and my heart sank. 

What happened was that the Wal-Mart guy decided not to press charges so the shoplifter didn't really get in legal trouble for it. The only thing that happened was that we were banned from the Wal-Mart and something about trespassing. But about 2 years later when I needed to get this for work, it showed up on there at my local PD. I got my NREMT/EMT certification with no issues. I have had it in no way affect my life other than me seeing it on the record, but now I'm worried about this.

Do you think it will show up on the background check?

[Capita98]

On 3/13/2018 at 1:06 AM, eipb16 said:

So here is the story. And before you tell me to call the school, I have one chance at this and I want to make sure that I exhaust all legal options first.

So when I was 18 I was with a group of friends and one of them shoplifted something from Wal-Mart. So we all got caught and detained in this tiny little room and even though only one person actually stole from them, all of our names were recorded and the police were called.

So to be clear, nobody actually got charged, not even the actual shoplifter... However, a couple years later I had to go to my local police station and request my record and on it the only thing that popped up was this. It said something like Respond to Theft or something like that and location was Wal-Mart <address>. I don't remember exactly, but point is it was on there and my heart sank. 

What happened was that the Wal-Mart guy decided not to press charges so the shoplifter didn't really get in legal trouble for it. The only thing that happened was that we were banned from the Wal-Mart and something about trespassing. But about 2 years later when I needed to get this for work, it showed up on there at my local PD. I got my NREMT/EMT certification with no issues. I have had it in no way affect my life other than me seeing it on the record, but now I'm worried about this.

Do you think it will show up on the background check?

A couple of suggestions to consider if you would like to know for sure: 

-Castlebranch is a widely used vendor of background screenings for many educational programs, including many PA schools. You could contact their sales department and inquire about ordering a background check for yourself. I can't speak to the cost, but it's a great place to start for a Level 1 check.

-Level 2 checks involve fingerprinting and inquiry in the NCIC through the FBI. This might be extreme in your case, but if you were arrested and fingerprinted at your local police station, it's possible that it could be on your record at that level as NCIC houses arrest data for law enforcement departments. Thankfully, this check isn't very expensive ($18 plus the cost of fingerprints) and the results turn around fairly quickly if you order them electronically. 

I was military police at one time, but please know that my experience is relatively antiquated. I'm happy to help further if you need it though.