Fact check: Do NC police officers train for only half as long as barbers do?
The Issue: Do cops in North Carolina really only go through half the training that barbers do? Those who support training reforms have made this claim, arguing that it reveals a flaw in law enforcement education and preparation.
Why we’re checking this: Law enforcement reform is a major topic as demonstrations continue around the country, protesting the death of George Floyd after a Minneapolis police officer knelt atop his neck. As reforms are suggested, including calls to defund police departments, this claim is likely to surface frequently.
What you need to know: Former Democratic Sen. Floyd McKissick of Durham returned to the legislature on Wednesday to advocate for law enforcement reforms, including additional training on topics like racial bias and de-escalating violent situations.
“Right now if you want to become a law enforcement officer, your training hours take about half the time it would take if you were a barber,” he said.
McKissick and others who cite this claim are correct in some ways, but the comparison has complicating factors: field work and apprenticeship hours, additional training mandated by individual police departments, and other considerations.
In North Carolina, the Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET) curriculum, as mandated by the state, takes 640 hours to complete, according to state guidelines posted online. Upon completion of a written exam and skills test, trainees have one year to be appointed as an officer.
For NC barbers, obtaining an apprentice license requires passing a cosmetology program that is at least 1,528 hours long, more than twice as long as the BLET curriculum, according to the state’s general statutes for barbers.
So, critics are correct that someone could become a police officer without spending half the amount of time in the initial training mandated for a would-be barber. But rarely does the training end there for either profession.
Prospective officers often face additional hours of training, required by their respective agencies, usually in the form of field hours and curriculum. In Raleigh, training requires 1,253 total hours of mandated instruction, including the BLET curriculum. That’s closer, but still 275 hours fewer than the minimum requirement for barbers, or about 34 days of eight-hour training sessions.
Fayetteville PD supplements their BLET course with a mandated 15 weeks of field training. Though most agencies require field training for prospective cops — a period just after hiring during which they serve under field training officers — there is no state mandate that cops undergo it. The state has stricter requirements when it comes to barbers.
For would-be barbers, a 12-month apprenticeship must be completed before they can obtain a license. Working under a licensed barber for an entire year adds hundreds, or thousands, of additional hours to the equation.
While exact comparisons are difficult to determine, in most cases it appears that becoming a licensed barber takes significantly longer than becoming a police officer. And this is not just the case in North Carolina. James Burch, president of the National Police Foundation, pointed to the state of Virginia, where cosmetology schooling and an apprenticeship add up to roughly 4,500 mandated hours. State mandated training for police, however, totals under 600 hours, with only 480 hours of basic training and 100 minimum hours of field training required.
“I’m certain that one can point to key differences that are not represented well in hourly comparisons,” Burch said in an email. “But the bottom line is that if we want more professional policing then we must invest in it and set higher expectations.”
Experts on law enforcement are careful to note the issue is not just about time spent in training. Dennis Kenney, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former Florida police officer, said the content of the training curriculum must be scrutinized. He said subjects like firearms training are emphasized, while others like social interaction and deescalation are lacking.
“We spend a lot of time teaching them to shoot guns, and not nearly as much time teaching them when to shoot guns,” he said.
Focusing too heavily on hours is the wrong approach, according to Kenney, though he said curriculum improvements would still likely necessitate additional hours. He added that department-mandated training can be the best way to address this issue.
“A cop working in the middle of Charlotte probably needs a different set of skills than a cop working in some remote, rural town,” Kenney said. “Those jurisdictions should go one step further and say, ‘Okay, what else do we need our officers to know?’ And we should require that.”
Still, he admits that this can cause issues for smaller police departments, which may not have the budget to fund a more comprehensive curriculum. In part because of this, McKissick advocates for changes to be made at the state level.
“If it’s part of basic law enforcement for every officer in Central Carolina, you begin to equalize the training so that even the smallest departments with the fewest officers get the same training that some of the larger communities might have,” he said.
And as the hourly comparison continues to spread on social media, Kenney said he understands why the numbers are concerning.
“What they’re saying is that if it requires more training to be a barber than it does to become a cop, the assumption is that the barber is a more skilled position than the cop,” he said. “And I think that would be a reasonable assumption to conclude, unless what the state is saying is: ‘This is what the minimum is, and other departments need to add additional training.”
But for Donald Bryson, CEO and president of North Carolina Civitas, the issue is not one of police training hours, but the strain the state puts on prospective barbers.
“When I look and see that a barber, a barber, requires more than 1500 hours of education before they can be licensed in the state of North Carolina, it makes me think about how the state has created barriers to entry for entrepreneurs to get into the market,” he said.
Bryson added he believes burdensome occupational license requirements like these can create “vicious cycles of poverty and crime,” by preventing people from getting into the workforce.
So while he does understand the concern voiced by many, Bryson felt the focus should be on the content of the training, rather than the amount of time spent.
The George Floyd protests have already spurred some changes within the state, with Raleigh’s police chief calling for an outside review of department policies, and the department banning chokeholds this week.
Our sources. Here’s where we found information and research on this topic.
North Carolina Basic Law Enforcement Training
North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 86A - Barbers
2013 U.S. Department of Justice Report on Law Enforcement Training Academies
Virginia Law Enforcement Training Academies report
News & Observer article on RPD changes following protests
This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 8:00 AM.