This is part of my life story. Most of this is what worries me that I will not be able to get hired onto a police department in the future.

Back in '05, the year I graduated, I did two things that I regret to this day. I joined the military, and I got married.

After my training at Ft. Jackson and Lee, I came home and attended a few months of my reserve drill training. Due to some marital and financial issues at the time, I missed a lot of my drills and eventually never went back. I got divorced in '07 and moved back home with my folks where I began to work at wal mart. I fell into a harsh crowd while I was working there and after I made supervisor I began smoking pot. In '08 I received my discharge papers and they stated that I had a general discharge under honorable conditions. In late summer of '09 I got fired from wal mart because I didn't have a "spotter" while I was operating a forklift. I checked with OSHA guidelines and they state that you don't need to have a spotter when operating a forklift. I let the people at job and family services know this and they allowed me to collect on unemployment.

At that point I quit smoking and enrolled in college, I started going back to church and really began to turn my life around. I was dating a girl who eventually converted to catholic so we could get married in the church we attend and just recently we got married!

I plan on attending the police academy, that is offered through my college, in the summer of '11. I was told that of the graduating class, 90% are placed in police departments upon graduation. Now as of right now I am unsure if I will be taking any classes post academy to obtain a dual degree in criminal justice and corrections, but I would like to know if there is any chance of me getting into a police department. I am starting to look to the future and wanted to know if I need to get a job working asset protection for a department store or if I have a shot at a police department.

Any help on this topic would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

sorry guys, I got separated in sept. ''06, and began working at wal mart in nov '07, the divorce was finalized in the summer of '08.. sorry for the mix up

That should not effect you. Your life story could be used to your advantage during an interview as the later part demonstrates growth and maturity. However, your job now is to attribute your changes for a good cause and what, if anything, you are doing to improve yourself as a person. For example, "I quit smoking because, looking back it was a stupid thing to do and I realize it was harming my body. Being a police officer, I would like to educate others...." and so on. Just make sure being a police officer is something you are dedicated to do for the next 25+ years and you should be fine!

Out of all the thing you listed, the only one to worry about is the fact that you smoked pot in 2007-2008.
How much did you smoke and how frequently? It might not be a problem, but I have a feeling that police department will have to wait at least 5 years from the time you quit smoking to the time you are going through the hiring process. Just don't smoke anymore and dont do any other drugs and wait like 3 more years before applying.

You have 3 recent red flags (being fired from a job, receiving an other than honorable discharge, and smoking marijuana). I would wait another year or two before going to the academy. Right now most police departments can be very selective about who they hire. I don't mean that you can't someday become a police officer, but I would work on trying to get more education and get another job to improve your work references.

Make sure you have a good backup plan!

My department wouldn't hire you if you've used marijuana within the last five years, or if you've used marijuana more than 20 times ever.