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Well, 1987 was my second academy, if you count the Army. MP School in 1975, followed by 8 years service.

I was just checking our most recent batch of applicants. We have had some apply who had some felony records and some pretty extensive misdemeanor records. Last time around, we had one apply to be a Tax Compliance Officer (the guys who stand in the booths on the border and collect the tax to bring alcohol back into the state) with an active warrant. We just sent a message to the local PD with his current home address and phone number off the application.

Given what we have all seen in real life, I think the LAPD incident is very plausible but it still could be exaggerated.

I was told this one while I was going through SAPD's academy in 87, so it is possible that the movie writers had also heard the story. Of course, since the movie wasn't out yet, it could be someone heard it from one of the writers.

As I said, I could not verify it either way. There were lots of stories like that in training back then.

Well, there are documented cases of people applying for police jobs and getting arrested for outstanding warrants when they do the fingerprint check.

One story (possibly apocryphal, I cannot verify it) I remember is a group of potential recruits going through the LAPD process. This was along the lines of a tour of the facility and PR dog and pony show to get the people interested in applying. When they got to the fingerprint section, they went to demonstrate how it works and asked for a volunteer. One young man volunteered and then found out how it works. He was promptly arrested for an outstanding Murder warrant.

Moral of the story is to never volunteer to demonstrate anything for the police. That is a good rule for the academy life as well as military life.