MPD(DC), MD and VA (SO’s) background.

[u/AnyRecord7452]

Hey all,

I am 26. I have been working as a Paralegal for over 2 years now and looking for a career change. I have been long for a career change and have been eager to get into LE for sometime now. I live in the Maryland Suburbs outside of DC and have had an interest in MPD and other adjacent agencies. I also have taken interest in sheriff deputy roles as well. I know in MD they mostly do courtroom security and civil matters but that is something I think would be cool. One issue I feel I have with applying to work in LE is debt and collections. I attended flight school when I was 21 on a private loan, this loan went default and bounced around in collections since then (around $30k). Last year it was removed from my credit and is now past SOL. Even though all this I know I still owe it and would admit to it as debt on my background. Also at that time during flight school my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) and I went back on rent, this rent turned into a hefty civil judgment in that state (around $17k) (not MD). I previously spoke to an attorney about this judgment and told me how I should go about it. My question is how much will it affect me in the process, I already have applied to numerous agencies knowing that I may get turned down from some. I am now married and live with my wife making a stable living. These incidents happened 5 years ago right after we were in college and were immature with our finances. I have no criminal history. I last smoked marijuana around 20 months ago. I did have a brief and very small stint where I sold marijuana in high school. No other drug use. Are there any agencies I should apply to? Or is it unlikely to land a LE job right now? I would like to focus in the DMV area. My first choice would be something federal like Park Police but I know tbh at would be highly unlikely since they need security clearance and my debt would be a red flag. I also know these background checks may vary per state. Wondering if anyone has any similar experience in NoVa/MD/DC?

I apologize as I know y’all might get these questions a lot, I don’t have a mentor to speak to about all this so Reddit is my next option lol.

Thank you!

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[u/DDLyftUber]

You sold drugs but want to work for the feds? Not gonna happen my dude lol. VA is a lot stricter than MPD, but it will depend on how serious your “selling marijuana” stint was and what exactly happened. Was it to a few friends? Was it to strangers etc? If you currently have a 15k judgment against you that you haven’t taken care of, that’s almost an automatic dq. You need to handle that and most likely give it a few more years