While covering the recent protests in Charlotte, we met Derrick Jacobs, who said he had to go through more training to become a barber than a police officer does.
We wanted to see if that was true. Because every time there’s a controversial police shooting, the question comes up: How much training do officers get?
Turns out, Jacobs’ claim is right. And it’s not just in North Carolina. In California, New Mexico and New York, you can get a badge hundreds of hours sooner than you can use a pair of barber shears.
And it’s not just barbering, either. Many trade jobs require more hours of training time to get a license than it takes to get a police badge. (Important caveat, though: Police departments can choose to go beyond their state’s minimum training requirements – and many do.)
Here’s a sample of the required hours of training time:
In North Carolina, It takes 1,528 hours to become a licensed barber. The state’s minimum police training requirement is 620 hours. (Charlotte-Mecklenburg police require another 278 hours of training.)
To earn a badge in California, you’ll need at least 664 hours of academy training. (The state then requires at least 14 weeks of field training.) If you want to be a licensed cosmetologist, you’ll need more than that: 1,600 hours.
Florida’s minimum training requirement for officers is 770 hours, but the training required to be an interior designer is much longer. Those who complete a 5-year interior design program still need to get 1,760 hours of experience before they can get a license. Those who complete a 2-year interior design program need 7,040 hours of experience.
It takes at least 900 hours to become an officer in Massachusetts. To be a licensed refrigeration technician, the state requires 1,000 hours of training if you have less than 4,000 hours of apprenticeship experience. (But we’re not talking about the guy who comes to fix your fridge at home; we’re talking about technicians who work on 10-ton refrigeration equipment.)
The minimum training requirement for Michigan police officers is 594 hours. To work with electrical signs, you’ll need 4,000 hours of experience.
Louisiana has one of the lowest minimum training requirements for entry-level police, at 360 hours. To be a licensed manicurist, you’ll need 500 hours.