Re: Would you Hire a Convicted Felon

[rreschran]

Hey there tow bosses ... This isn't a new topic, but one that reflects the here and now climate of the towing and recovery industry.  I personally believe in second chances for former incarcerated individuals and believe they are fit for service after serving time. Having employed and managed numerous tow truck drivers with a former bad history, I've had really good luck with these individual. Yeah ... there were a few players, but they were moved on for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, the law enforcement community oftentimes doesn't see it that way. I'm seeking opinions or pro-active comments. I'm really interested to hear your comments by answering and or all of the following:

 

Do you have criteria for allowing someone a second chance?

Would you/have you considered hiring a convicted felon who has served time, but not for crimes of violence, auto theft, or sexual predation?

Have you worked with the Dept. of Corrections or individual parole officer in the past? 

As a former inmate now released, are they assigned and approved by law enforcement in your community?

 

Any comments are welcome for a research project I'm working on.

 

Thanks ... R

[mushspeed]

Randall ... whilst I am semi retired ... when we were fully operational  we insisted that all disclosures must be made at the time of the job application and must be prepared to undergo a CRB  check  ( criminal record bureau) 

We then made a decision depending on the severity of the crime   we would not consider  a  habitual offender   or someone  registered as a sexual offender 

We had several staff members who had gone off the rails when they were younger  but were reformed characters , settled down and had young families.

With just  one exception ,  we never had any problems and they all turned out to be good reliable  workers.

The only problem we had .....they were not allowed to work on  our police contracts or allowed into the examination and impound areas  without  specific written police approval for each individual 

John.

[rreschran]

Hi John ... semi retired? What's that. Thanks for your comments as they are in-line with what others I've talked with. The purpose of the criminal record bureau is consistent with what most agencies require here in the states. As always ... it's great to see you and perhaps I'll see you in Atlantic City? Best Regards.    R.

[mushspeed]

Yes... Semi Retired,  is perhaps an understatement.....I now only work 5 and a half days a week and don't take my phone to bed ...

 

I shall be going to Chattenooga....with Aileen and 4 other members of my family ....    

 

Unfortunately the Atlantic city date  clashes with an important family event that has been planned for quite a while  and I will be history if dodge off to the big apple  !!

 

 I am sure we catch up in the not too distant future ...

 

Regards   John.

 

[rreschran]

Christine and I too will be in Chattanooga for HOF and WOF events. I'm looking forward to see in you John.   R.

[goodmichael]

I would definitely give a person a second chance. I would not take the risk of hiring a predatory sex offender but would give a  chance to a person who was convicted of an offense who was involved as a younger person with a person who was younger than them and was charged as a sexual offender. I served the state of Texas as a parole officer and supervised a specialized caseload of sex offenders. One of my parolees was a young man who had been involved in a sexual relationship with a young woman who was three years younger than him. They had been dating for an extended period of time. He was hispanic and the young girl was an anglo. The parents disapproved of the relationship. They contacted the district attorney and had the young man prosecuted. He did six months and was released on supervision. He was a decent young man, found a job, did everything that was expected of him. I would hire him in a heartbeat. 

 

I am the first to admit, I am a ahole. I do not like visible tattoos, I do not like smoking in a vehicle that is owned by me. My insurance, my fuel, my rule. ( I should put that on my headstone.) If that is something you do not like, that is fine, go roll your nickels, dimes, and quarters, hoard your change in a 1.75 ltr Jack Daniels bottle and when you fill 22 of them with quarters go and put a down payment on a truck. Then you can do whatever you want.  I will give someone a chance if they want to work. I will assist anyone who genuinely has a desire to work. But I will only hire you if I see that you will represent me and my business. Because I built it. Not some socialist, Chic fil a hating, love and tolerate everybody, everybody deserves equal opportunity politician who wants to dictate what I risked all for, worked, stressed out over, and developed despite being taxed to death. It is mine, not yours. And I will run it as I please. 

 

Let me get of my box. Yes, I would support people in giving them an opportunity for a second chance. Law enforcement needs to look at their criteria for allowing people the opportunity to work rotation work as well. 

 

Thanks for letting me vent, that was better than my psychotropic meds!! 

 

[Moose]

Ditto what goodmichael said, but it's a good thing I'm going back to bed. I just came in here cause I heard the board was active again. I'll Be Back!!!

[rreschran]

Hey Moose ... welcome back. I'm glad to see that you noticed that, " the board is active again." There's much to be active about for sure.    R

[Fixdent]

Yep, I would.  Lots of good people need a second chance.

 

--

Gordon

[brian991219]

Depending on the nature of the offense, the job tasks I plan to hire for and any restrictions in my contracts with law enforcement or dispatch clubs YES. I believe in second chances, although that said, some offenses are lifetime disqualifiers for commercial drivers. I apply the CDL standards even to non-CDL drivers, meaning if the offense is a CDL disqualifier then it means you will not drive for me even in a non-CDL (light duty) truck.

 

Ultimately they would need to be able to be fully qualified to run police tows and such. I do not believe in having limited use drivers, meaning they can only be assigned to certain calls because of clearances. Shop employees and those that do not have direct contact with the public will have a more lenient hiring criteria for criminal backgrounds, as those do not directly affect any contracts.

 

When my company was active I had hired drivers with past drug and alcohol charges although I stayed away from felony assault charges. Theft depended upon the nature the crime, time since last convicted and other circumstances.

[silverhawk]

We must follow the law in Louisiana.  No convicted sex offenders or vehicle felony convictions allowed to work at towing service.  Driver or any other position.  There are some restrictions on employees who have been convicted of insurance fraud also, and even receiving stolen goods.  

[goodmichael]

One cannot break the law, or policies, but we do need to, collectively as a nation do a better job in working to give people a second chance. It is a very stressful undertaking to make that decision on any hire. It is exasperated when the person has a record. I am not advocating a hug a thug mentality.  For the record I am 100% for the death penalty. But there are some people out there with records who have excellent skills, and with a second chance are worthy of the opportunity to be an outstanding employee.  

[brian991219]

On 9/14/2019 at 2:44 PM, silverhawk said:

We must follow the law in Louisiana.  No convicted sex offenders or vehicle felony convictions allowed to work at towing service.  Driver or any other position.  There are some restrictions on employees who have been convicted of insurance fraud also, and even receiving stolen goods.  

We must follow the law in Pennsylvania as well. Really, all tow owners must follow their state laws and contract rules. Here in PA the State Police only restrict who can physically respond to police calls for service. Per our state laws they do not have the legal authority to tell tow services who they may hire for dispatch, shop or other non-public responding positions. They can't even restrict someone from being an owner if they are not qualified to respond to calls, they merely can restrict that person from physically being on scene of a police ordered tow. There is a local towing company in my home town that has been a state police service provider for over 30 years yet is owned by a convicted felon with receiving stolen property and drug/alcohol charges. He is perfectly legal to own the company, just can not respond to any police calls, only owner requests and other direct calls for service.

 

I know we can ask this of towers from all 50 states and get 50 different replies since each state has unique rules. Another notable legal point, states like Tennessee have a second chance law that allows convicted felons that are convicted of disqualifying offenses to petition THP to be allowed to be towers after a certain period of time has passed since their conviction. So, at least in some states, simply being a convicted felon is not always an automatic lifetime disqualifier from being a tower. Pennsylvania just passed a similar law that will allow persons convicted of certain offenses a second chance at professional licenses, towing included, that were at one time a lifetime ban due to the nature of their charges.

 

I do believe that for the penal system to work we need a means of rehabilitating convicts and reintegrating them into society. The concept is that once they have served their sentence they have paid their debt to society and should be able to work and earn an honest way in life. I believe in second chances, although I do agree that one must be selective and careful in how the manage giving those second chances. That said, I believe that we must also be as careful in hiring folks that have no record, they need to earn our trust just the same.

[yoBdaBenO]

3 TIMES, worked out 1 TIME. But, he's a mechanic that rarely goes out on Tow Truck runs. Does that Count????

[rreschran]

Great comments here guys ... I appreciate your response. And, YES Ben ... hiring for other positions within the company is valuable, office, sales, parts puller, forklift operator, and tow operators etc., not responding to law enforcement calls unless cleared by the agency's background process.    R.

[yoBdaBenO]

R. Sorry for the ConFussioN ---

My name is RoB the screen name yoBdaBenO is OneBadBoy in Reverse.

 

LAW ENFORCEMENT HERE Will Not Authorize Any Felon. However, if this is an old felony or misdemeanor they will assist our employee in having that conviction expunged. OUR mechanic will be working on that in time. I know a driver that has a felony record and continues to drag his feet on having the conviction expunged. He was 19 years old, spent a few months in work release, did community service and is now in his 30's. Are there any other members here that can relate? Drivers are getting harder to find --- Strike That I MEAN QUALIFIED DRIVERS!

[fenderbendr6]

I hadn't thought too much about this topic until I had the opportunity to hire a man I had known for several years. He had fallen into drug use and at the end of his prison time, asked me to help him make a new start. I agreed, and hired him to help in the shop and began training him to operate our equipment, as I really needed a second driver.

 

Long story short, within 3 months he was back to the drugs and causing problems in the community that I had brought him into. He's back in prison now after several run ins with the same law enforcement officers that I interact with on a daily basis.

 

Not sure I will ever take that risk again.