$49,500 – after completion of BLET and Field Training

HPD hires qualified candidates and will provide a trainee police officer salary while attending BLET.  HPD will cover the cost of tuition, books and uniforms for the BLET program.  Police Officer Trainees must sign a tuition waiver with the City of Hickory, promising three years of service.  If the service requirement is not met, tuition BLET costs must be repaid on a pro-rated scale.

BLET – What is it? 

The Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET) Curriculum is designed to prepare entry-level individuals with the cognitive and physical skills needed to become certified law enforcement officers in North Carolina. The course is comprised of 36 separate blocks of instruction to include topics such as Firearms, Driver Training, Motor Vehicle Law, and Arrest, Search and Seizure. The BLET course is filled with practical exercises and an extensive ethics section that is woven throughout the training experience. 

The BLET course has been thoroughly researched, legally reviewed and contains the most current law enforcement information available. The Commission mandated 716-hour course takes approximately 18 weeks to complete and concludes with a comprehensive written exam and skills testing. Upon successful completion of the BLET State Comprehensive Written Examination, the BLET trainee has one year from the date of the State Comprehensive Examination to be duly appointed and sworn as a law enforcement officer in North Carolina. However, most agencies include an additional period of field training. 

The North Carolina Justice Academy develops and maintains the BLET curriculum. 

Note: Employment with criminal justice agencies is subject to specific agency criteria; therefore, completion of the course alone is no guarantee of eligibility of employment. 

Course Details 

• 716 mandated hours 

• 18 weeks of instruction 

• Uniforms required 

• Estimated program costs $2,400 (In-state tuition) 

• Courses offered for the fall and spring semesters 

 
Minimum Standards – BLET Candidates 

• Must be a citizen of the United States. 

• Must be 20 years of age. 

• Priority admission is given to individuals holding full-time employment with criminal justice agencies. 

• Must provide to the School Director a medical examination report, properly completed by a physician licensed to practice medicine in North Carolina, a physician’s assistant, or a nurse practitioner, to determine the individual’s fitness to perform the essential job functions of a criminal justice officer.   

• Must have a high school diploma or GED.  High school diplomas earned through correspondence enrollment are not recognized toward the educational requirements. 

• Must take a standardized reading comprehension test and score at the tenth-grade level or higher within one year prior to entrance into Basic Law Enforcement Training. 

• Must provide to the School Director a certified criminal record check for local and state records for the time period since the trainee has become an adult and from all locations where the trainee has resided since becoming an adult.  An Administrative Office of the Courts criminal record check or a comparable out-of-state criminal record check will satisfy this requirement.   

• Must have not been convicted of a felony or:   

  • A crime for which the punishment could have been imprisonment or more than two years; or   

  • A crime or unlawful act defined as a “Class B misdemeanor” within the five-year period prior to the date of application for employment unless the individual intends to seek certification through the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Education and training standards Commission; or   

  • Four or more crimes or unlawful acts defined as “Class B Misdemeanors” regardless of the date of conviction; or   

  • Four or more crimes or unlawful acts defined as “Class A Misdemeanors” except the trainee may be enrolled if the last conviction occurred more than two years prior to the date of enrollment; or

  • A combination of four or more “Class A Misdemeanors” or “Class B Misdemeanors” regardless of the date of conviction unless the individual intends to seek certification through the North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission.