How to Become a Private Investigator in North Carolina

Private investigators can work in so many different areas that it is difficult to describe a typical day.

Each day is different.

What does stay the same is that a private investigator solves mysteries.

It is their task to get to the truth of a situation and reveal it.

If you have a love of solving mysteries and a wish to get to the truth, becoming a private investigator may be the perfect career for you.

Let’s explore this profession further.

Becoming a Private Investigator in North Carolina – Step-By-Step

1. Get an Education

After receiving a high school diploma or GED, you will need the equivalent of 3000 hours of training or experience to become a private investigator in North Carolina.

You can either attend a program specifically designed for private investigators or get a degree in a related field, such as Criminal Justice.

A degree will count toward the needed hours as follows: An Associate’s degree is worth 400 hours, a Bachelor’s degree is worth 800, and a Graduate degree will net you a 1200-hour credit.

If you are also seeking the right to carry a weapon, you will need to take four additional classes.

These classes are The Security Officer in North Carolina, Legal Issues for Security Officers, Emergency Response, and Communications.

2. Gain Experience

As noted above, you will need 3000 hours of education and experience in the past ten years to apply for your license.

In addition to working in an investigative position in a police force or the military, the licensing board also gives credit for having a polygraph license, a guard dog handler license, or a psychological stress examiner license.

3. Get Your License

To get your license, you will need to take an exam, pass a background check, provide two recent photographs, and show proof of having a $10,000 surety bond.

The cost of your initial license will be $688, and every two years, you will need to obtain 12 hours of added education and pay $500 to renew your license.

North Carolina has reciprocity agreements with several other states.

Most of them allow you 30 days of permission to work in North Carolina.

Mississippi, however, only allows 15 days.

This means that if your case started in North Carolina and moved to another state, you are authorized to follow it for thirty days.

If it isn’t completed in that time, however, you will need to turn the case over to a private investigator in that state.

This also works in reverse for those from other states.

4. Continue Learning

As with most other professions, things are constantly changing, and you will need to complete at least 12 hours of continued education every two years to qualify for a renewed private investigator license in North Carolina.

1 P.I.Education

At P.I. Education, you can take courses one at a time or take several at once.

The courses are created to allow a student to design their program, depending on their own needs.

There are 27 classes to choose from.

The classes are anywhere from one to twelve credit hours and cost $45 to $195.

There are both beginning and intermediate classes.

Subjects that can be found include investigating troubled relationships, understanding homeland security, process serving, searching public records, death scene investigation, and surveillance.

There are also classes in motor vehicle deaths, identity theft, deception detection, nursing home abuse, missing persons, forensic scene photography, DNA, and fingerprints.

Contact Information

• Address: 3314 West End Avenue, Suite 102 Nashville, TN 37203
• Phone: (615) 953-3150
• Website: Visit School Website

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2 P.I. Leadership Academy

P.I. Leadership Academy doesn’t offer as many classes as other places, but their classes are recognized as among the best.

The classes are six hours in length and cost anywhere from $50 to $300.

The classes offered include Quick Decision Making for Security Managers. Interview Techniques, Privacy and Security Laws, Workers’ Compensation Investigations, Professional Surveillance and Field Operations, Ethics, and Understanding Implicit Bias in Security Operations.

Contact Information

• Address: 8480 Honeycutt Road Suite 200 Raleigh, NC 27615
• Phone: 919.878.9988
• Website: Visit School Website

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3 NITA

The National Investigative Training Academy has 132 classes that pertain to North Carolina private investigators.

These classes are designed to make it easy to create your program.

They run for two hours to 16 hours and cost anywhere from $49 to $549.

Many of the courses have both beginner and intermediate classes.

This is one of the few places where you can obtain training for investigation and security in the marijuana industry.

Other classes include report writing, mental health for private investigators, crime scene reconstruction, interviewing, bomb threats, and field notes.

There are also classes on surveillance basics, evidence gathering, investigating different types of deaths, handwriting analysis, and investigating suspicious deaths.

Other topics of interest include social media investigations, child and elderly abuse, missing persons, cybercrime, criminal defense investigations, background checks, use of force, GPS, and much more.

Contact Information

• Address: 250 International Pkwy Suite 134, Lake Mary, FL 32746, United States
• Phone: +1 800-730-6482
• Website: Visit School Website

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Schools Summary Table

	Rank	School
	#1	P.I.Education
	#2	P.I. Leadership Academy
	#3	NITA

Private Investigator Salary in North Carolina

How Much Does a Private Investigator in North Carolina Make?

The amount of money you can earn as a private investigator will depend on where you work in the state, what you specialize in, and whether you work for an agency or yourself.

It will also be affected by the amount of experience.

The low end of the pay scale has private investigators making $36,150 a year, and those on the high end making $99,550 annually.

The average salary for a private investigator in North Carolina is $55,190.

Regional Salary

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About Sarah Klein Sarah Klein is a freelance editor and writer specializing in pharmaceutical litigation and products liability. Sarah holds a J.D. and focuses almost exclusively on writing legal blogs that spotlight consumer safety issues.