# Background investigation



## Rob720 (Aug 1, 2014)

Hi everyone ,

I went to my oral board 2 weeks and 4 days ago. I have not heard anything yet. They had me sign a paper stating they can do my background check. None of my family or anything have heard from them. Does it usually take this long to hear back and start a background investigation?


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## Goose (Dec 1, 2004)

It can for the simple reason that many departments spend about 40 hours per candidate on a background investigation. If they only have one or two investigators working on backgrounds plus their normal case load it can be completely normal.

It's not the norm, but I have spent 3+ months waiting for a small agency to start my background investigation. It all depends on how quickly the powers that be want to fill position(s). In the end, just remember that no news is good news.


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## Rob720 (Aug 1, 2014)

awesome appreciate it. they let you know either way if you got selected or not right ?


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## Goose (Dec 1, 2004)

Rob720 said:


> awesome appreciate it. they let you know either way if you got selected or not right ?


Usually. It is very rare to not have departments either send you a letter in the mail or return a phone call but it does happen. After four weeks you may want to touch base with the person you interviewed with with a friendly and politely-worded email or phone call in order to touch base and let them know that you are still interested in working with them.


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## LA Copper (Feb 11, 2005)

On my department the background investigation takes several months. Like any background investigation, it all depends on how old you are and how much background you have to be investigated.


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## militia_man (Mar 27, 2005)

woodyd said:


> Just out of curiosity, does LAPD fly investigators out to the applicant's house if they live in, say, MA, to do a home visit? Or are the other procedures that replace the home visit for out of state applicants? It just seems like a huge expense and time committment to criss-cross the country on BIs, particularly when the Dept is recruiting nationwide with the consolodiated testing and all.
> I'm always interested in seeing how things are done in other parts of the country. If LA was about 2000 miles closer to home, I'd be all over that job


I believe they use contract investigators from this area. I met with a contracted background investigator when a friend of mine was getting a background done on him by the Feds. The investigator mentioned to me that he also did investigations for out of state police agencies that were considering hiring Massachusetts residents.

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## Pvt. Cowboy (Jan 26, 2005)

woodyd said:


> That makes sense. I knew the Feds used contract BIs, wasn't sure about local PDs. I wonder what the qualifications of the contractors are. Retired POs? Licensed as private investigators in MA?


Guy who did my background for the Feds was a retired FBI 1811. Nice guy too.

One of my father's friends who retired from the MSP now works for the same contracting company. They only dig up the information; they don't pass on a recommendation. I don't remember the company name though.


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## felony (Oct 24, 2014)

Rob720 said:


> Hi everyone ,
> 
> I went to my oral board 2 weeks and 4 days ago. I have not heard anything yet. They had me sign a paper stating they can do my background check. None of my family or anything have heard from them. Does it usually take this long to hear back and start a background investigation?


Depends on the agency and amount of recruits they plan on hiring. My agency spent a little over a month. They will check, past employment, credit, references, neighbors, local pd contacts, driving history, social media etc. It really depends on the work load of the investigator how fast you move on in the process.


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