I have a house in a small town and a local sheriff deputy applied to rent. I went to the courthouse and was rather stunned to find a criminal conviction for vandalism. He has an uncommon name so pretty positive it’s him. It was around 20 years ago but still, I am shocked that he could become a deputy

98% of the time vandalism is a misdemeanor, usually committed by the young high school or college kids that hasn't grown a brain yet.

Generally you can't be a peace officer with a felony. If it was at the misdemeanor level everyone with a speeding ticket, parking ticket, or seatbelt violation would be eliminated from serving as well which would cut way down on the applicant pool.

Arthur,

Wow!

My written screening criteria is clear: no law enforcement of any type or lawyers. They have more powers and connections than little old me.

Note: SOURCE OF INCOME is a protected class in CA and some other states/ local laws. MY state allows it.

I rented a house to young police officers from the same police station a few miles from my house. Two of the bunch were trouble. So one evening I went to the police station and borrowed the commanding office and took him by my rental. I drove in the alley behind the house and he could hear the music blasting, the ground shaking and saw drinking thru the gate slates. He got on the radio and called for back up. The next day my house was vacated and I got to keep the balance of the rent and the deposit.

I told the commanding office that I had a news crew filming the party police at my rental and they would run a story about how the police think they can do anything the wanted.

Hiring practices for police departments have changed. Not many good people want the job nowadays. Violent felons can now be hired.

Sisco -- I'm curious what state you are referring to where a "violent felon" can be hired as a police office? Your state doesn't allow it. My state doesn't allow it. Just curious exactly where you are referring to where that is the case?

That being said, I don't think it is a big deal if a cop has a misdemeanor for "vandalism" decades ago. Lots of people do stupid things at 18 that turn into normal adults.

Heck, we have lots of cops that aren't good at what they do. I'd rather have a good cop with an old vandalism charge than a lot of the ones without charges today...

Of course, when it comes to landlording... It might be a little different. Like many here, I also avoid cops as tenants. :)

I don't understand the negativity toward renting to cops? Seems like paranoia.

John check a story from January 27, 2022 Fox13memphis.

Sisco: Yeah, I looked for a while, but couldn't find it. Their website isn't exactly great. If there is some article you want me to read, then let me know the title and I can try to find it. (I'm assuming you aren't referring to the Tyre Nichols situation. If you are, let me know which copy had a past felon conviction since I'm curious about it.)

The official Tennessee government site still says that to qualify as a copy you cannot have any felony conviction.

This is a simple question. I'm just asking what you're talking about. Telling me to look for some random news story on a specific date isn't helping much.

My county has a pretty easy to use database that lists the owners for each address.

My company name owns all the doors I rent. Right now it also includes my house. We are working on a trust to put my house in that won't tie it to me.

I have known a lot of cops. Some are not nice people. I know some from before they were on the job and never thought they should have gotten hired. I also know some that are just normal people. This is just their job. Then there are some that I consider to be honorable beyond it all because they actually want to change the world they live in.

John, I attempted to post the link to the story from one year ago. This site apparently won’t permit posting story links. In a nutshell MPD had to change their standards in order to staff the police department. They were still 500 cops short of fully staffed.

MPD would hire those with criminal records, even violent felons provided that they had maintained steady employment and had no further convictions for violent felony.

Well, as I said, I'd really like to see something that says that. Again, state law still states that a police officer cannot have a felony conviction. I don't see how MPD is over-riding state law.

You can post the title here so that we can search for it. Or you can post the link by removing the h-t-t-p at the front.

So, that article basically says that they are indeed considering some changes:

1. Removing the time limit from the fitness test to make it more of a fitness assessment.

2. Lowering the number of college credits required.

3. Considering people with "small infractions, whether it’s a criminal record or whether it’s records regarding employment stability or driving history, we’re looking at those, and we’re looking at those on a case by case basis."

That's all that was said was being considered by the MPD. Nothing about allowing "violent felons".

The article when went on to point out that, under special circumstances, an agency CAN REQUEST a waiver for someone who has a felony conviction, yes. But it is intended to be very specific and rare and only under limited circumstances.

To request it, when past criminal activity of any kind is involved, the agency requesting the waiver has to show up IN PERSON to present their case in front of the Commission to argue for why this one applicant should get a waiver even though they had a past conviction.

So, yes, it does look like there is a process to get a rare exception made for someone with a felony. But you made it sound like they are just open to hiring them and that isn't what the Lt. Colonel that they interviewed said at all. She said that they would consider people with "minor infractions" on a case-by-case basis.

The fact that there happens to be a (difficult) waiver process in place for a one-time exception for a felon does NOT mean that the department is open to hiring violet felons as was suggested here. That isn't what they said at all.

Also, it is incorrect to say, as you just did, that the DEPARTMENT could waive that pre-employment requirement. They absolutely cannot. Only the "Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission" can waive that requirement. And, again, only by the department/agency appearing in-person before the Commission to plead the case.