Police incident report for character and fitness Forum

[Anonymous User]

3 years ago or so,I had an argument with some guy. It was nothing. Just words. No threats or anything. Still, the guy decided to sort of "swat" me by calling the cops. Cop came by my house and took a statement. Said he had to make an incident report. No arrest. No violation. Nothing. Just true report. My name etc. Do I disclose this?

[lymenheimer]

That depends, are you a transfer or are you abusing the anon feature in transfer because you didn't like your post wasn't anon in Ask a Law Student/Graduate forum?

[UVA2B]

TLS is not a C&F attorney in your chosen jurisdiction, and I'm always curious when people come to TLS for C&F decisions. If you feel like you should disclose an incident, and there weren't serious negative repercussions of the incident, I can't imagine it would do any good to hide it. But I'm not a C&F attorney, and I don't know any of the facts of your particular case.

So yeah, always consult a C&F attorney if you have issues that may or may not require disclosure. They will be able to help you much more than random internet posters can. We're talking about your career here, and this is literally a threshold type of issue to starting that career. Take it seriously, pay for the advice you need in the jurisdiction you need, and realize it will be money well spent.

[rpupkin]

TLS is not a C&F attorney in your chosen jurisdiction, and I'm always curious when people come to TLS for C&F decisions.

In defense of posters who start at TLS for C&F questions, it's an easy way of checking whether the incident in question is even in the ballpark of C&F concerns. I've seen a few "C&F" questions where the easy answer is: "No, you don't need to disclose that." If the poster instead hit up a C&F attorney for those questions, they'd have to suffer a bit of logistical convenience, and they'd probably have to cough up some cash for no real reason. I'm not saying the OP's question falls in that category, but I don't think it's crazy for a poster to ask the TLS hive about a potential C&F problem.

[UVA2B]

TLS is not a C&F attorney in your chosen jurisdiction, and I'm always curious when people come to TLS for C&F decisions.

In defense of posters who start at TLS for C&F questions, it's an easy way of checking whether the incident in question is even in the ballpark of C&F concerns. I've seen a few "C&F" questions where the easy answer is: "No, you don't need to disclose that." If the poster instead hit up a C&F attorney for those questions, they'd have to suffer a bit of logistical convenience, and they'd probably have to cough up some cash for no real reason. I'm not saying the OP's question falls in that category, but I don't think it's crazy for a poster to ask the TLS hive about a potential C&F problem.

"Always" may have been a bit of an exaggeration because sometimes it's plainly neuroses that the poster just needs to have settled, but very often it's in that middle ground where TLS isn't going to be particularly helpful, and probably only adds to confusion because people enjoy giving their opinions, even if it's not strictly legal advice. So yes, sometimes the answer is plainly yes or no, but usually it's rightly "ehh, maybe. You're better off talking to an attorney about this."

[Nebby]

3 years ago or so,I had an argument with some guy. It was nothing. Just words. No threats or anything. Still, the guy decided to sort of "swat" me by calling the cops. Cop came by my house and took a statement. Said he had to make an incident report. No arrest. No violation. Nothing. Just true report. My name etc. Do I disclose this?

Yes or no. It doesn't matter

[rpupkin]

TLS is not a C&F attorney in your chosen jurisdiction, and I'm always curious when people come to TLS for C&F decisions.

In defense of posters who start at TLS for C&F questions, it's an easy way of checking whether the incident in question is even in the ballpark of C&F concerns. I've seen a few "C&F" questions where the easy answer is: "No, you don't need to disclose that." If the poster instead hit up a C&F attorney for those questions, they'd have to suffer a bit of logistical convenience, and they'd probably have to cough up some cash for no real reason. I'm not saying the OP's question falls in that category, but I don't think it's crazy for a poster to ask the TLS hive about a potential C&F problem.

"Always" may have been a bit of an exaggeration because sometimes it's plainly neuroses that the poster just needs to have settled, but very often it's in that middle ground where TLS isn't going to be particularly helpful, and probably only adds to confusion because people enjoy giving their opinions, even if it's not strictly legal advice. So yes, sometimes the answer is plainly yes or no, but usually it's rightly "ehh, maybe. You're better off talking to an attorney about this."

Sure. But the point is that the posters asking the questions don't know whether the answer is "plainly yes or no" or "ehh, maybe" before they post. That's why they're asking. I don't see how this is different than anything else on TLS.

[UVA2B]

TLS is not a C&F attorney in your chosen jurisdiction, and I'm always curious when people come to TLS for C&F decisions.

In defense of posters who start at TLS for C&F questions, it's an easy way of checking whether the incident in question is even in the ballpark of C&F concerns. I've seen a few "C&F" questions where the easy answer is: "No, you don't need to disclose that." If the poster instead hit up a C&F attorney for those questions, they'd have to suffer a bit of logistical convenience, and they'd probably have to cough up some cash for no real reason. I'm not saying the OP's question falls in that category, but I don't think it's crazy for a poster to ask the TLS hive about a potential C&F problem.

"Always" may have been a bit of an exaggeration because sometimes it's plainly neuroses that the poster just needs to have settled, but very often it's in that middle ground where TLS isn't going to be particularly helpful, and probably only adds to confusion because people enjoy giving their opinions, even if it's not strictly legal advice. So yes, sometimes the answer is plainly yes or no, but usually it's rightly "ehh, maybe. You're better off talking to an attorney about this."

Sure. But the point is that the posters asking the questions don't know whether the answer is "plainly yes or no" or "ehh, maybe" before they post. That's why they're asking. I don't see how this is different than anything else on TLS.

It's probably not all that different, I just look at it differently because C&F is way more important than picking Duke or Michigan or something like that. If I was in doubt about my C&F determination, my first instinct would be to consult an actual attorney personally, so that's probably where it all stems from. I didn't initially see it as a YMMV thing, but maybe I'm just wrong in that.

[albanach]

How could anyone even guess at an answer without first knowing the question?

"Do I need to disclose this?" is not the question.

[rpupkin]

How could anyone even guess at an answer without first knowing the question?

"Do I need to disclose this?" is not the question.

Why isn't that the question? What is the question?

[swampman]

How could anyone even guess at an answer without first knowing the question?

"Do I need to disclose this?" is not the question.

Why isn't that the question? What is the question?

"Have you ever been arrested or charged with a criminal offense?" vs "Have you ever been accused of a criminal offense?"

[albanach]

How could anyone even guess at an answer without first knowing the question?

"Do I need to disclose this?" is not the question.

Why isn't that the question? What is the question?

"Have you ever been arrested or charged with a criminal offense?" vs "Have you ever been accused of a criminal offense?"

Yes. "Do I need to disclose this?" Was op's question in response to another question unknown to us. It's the content of that unknown question that's necessary to even take a stab at answering op's question.

Swampman frames it nicely with examples of two similar questions that result in different answers.