Few topics generate as many angry comments on Palavrão Tático's social media as this one. A clip from the show, in which one of the hosts says you don't need a law degree to be a police officer, circulated in Brazil without the part where he made clear he was talking about the United States. The result: an avalanche of "you don't know anything." In episode 46, Eliel Teixeira and Edwin Wu revisit the subject with two police officers from Brazil's Federal District — Paulo Brandão and Felipe Teixeira — and the picture that comes out of the conversation is more interesting than the comment-section fight: the two systems, by different paths, are arriving at similar conclusions.

In California: high school and the academy

In California, the minimum requirements for a peace officer are in Government Code section 1031: minimum age, background investigation, medical and psychological evaluation, and a high school education (high school diploma, GED or equivalent). There is no college degree requirement, let alone a law degree. Some departments pay incentive pay to officers with college degrees, but that is an incentive, not a prerequisite.

The legal knowledge an officer needs comes from the academy, within the basic curriculum set by POST, and from the job itself: search and seizure law, use of force, penal and vehicle codes, arrest procedure. One of the hosts acknowledges in the episode that, on this point, Brazil is "way ahead" on minimum education — here it's "high school."

What a patrol officer does when the question is legal

The argument the hosts consider decisive is access. In the United States, any patrol officer, whether from a ten-person department or a ten-thousand-person one, has someone to call when a case goes beyond the routine. Unsure how to charge or handle it? There's an on-call prosecutor answering. Stopped a car full of drugs, cash and a rifle? There's an on-call line at specialized agencies like the DEA, and dispatch itself has the numbers. The officer is the one who brings everyone in; the specialist is available to him right then.

That takes off the patrol officer the burden of also being the legal expert on the case. He needs to know the law he enforces — and he does — but the fine legal analysis is shared with the people whose field it is.

In Brazil: the delegado and the new profile of the agent

In Brazil, the equivalent function is concentrated in a figure that, as the guests point out, "maybe has no equivalent" in the United States: the delegado de polícia, the police chief-investigator who runs the case. He is the one who assesses how the crime is classified, decides on the case documents, petitions the courts and deals with the prosecutors' office (Ministério Público). That is why the position is, by law, restricted to law graduates — Federal Law 12.830/2013, article 3, establishes this for the career.

Agents, clerks (escrivães) and investigators are a different story. Most Brazilian civil police forces today require a college degree in any field for those positions. And, according to the guests, the profile being sought has changed. The old focus was on legal studies; the latest class to join their police force was "completely different": information technology, accounting, economics, people with logical reasoning. The legal content is still on the exam — Constitutional, Administrative, Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure — and it is studied for the exam and deepened at the police academy, "law in practice," but a law degree is no longer the natural path.

Why crime changed the entrance exam

Paulo Brandão's explanation is a timeline of organized crime. First came the kidnappings; then ATM bombings; then the so-called "domínio de cidades" ("city takeovers"), bank attacks in which entire towns were sealed off. Today, he says, criminals have realized that investing in people who know how to break into computers and bank accounts pays more and exposes them less. Cybercrime, fraud and money laundering demand a different kind of investigator — someone who understands systems, money flows, accounting. "It's not a guy with a law background who's going to be able to study that."

His point, and the hosts', is the same: in the core work of investigation, what counts is specific expertise in the field. Legal knowledge can be learned for the exam and in the practice of the academy.

A more demanding career, fewer benefits

The conversation also touches on a side effect. The exam became more competitive and more demanding, but, according to the guests, benefits that existed 20 years ago have been lost — retirement is the example given — and pay doesn't keep up with inflation. The result is more turnover: those who pass today, with that level of preparation, are often already able to pass another public-service exam, and the police force becomes "just another step."

What the two think about it

In the episode, one of the hosts calls the subject "my cause" and says the guests described "exactly what the reality is here." The conversation is worth hearing in full, including the backstory of how the clip went viral — and the half-joking announcement that the topic should still get another episode.

Sources and verification

California Government Code, section 1031 (minimum requirements for peace officers, including a high school education or equivalent). California POST — Regular Basic Course (basic academy curriculum). Brazilian Federal Law 12.830/2013, art. 3 (delegado de polícia position restricted to law graduates). College-degree requirement for agents and clerks according to the exam notices and organic laws of the state and Federal District civil police forces. The profile of recent classes, the availability of on-call lines and the assessment of benefits and turnover are accounts from the episode's participants.

Who's talking here: Eliel Teixeira and Edwin Wu are active-duty police officers in the Los Angeles area, California — Brazilian-born, American citizens, with long careers in law enforcement. In this episode, they welcome Paulo Brandão, a police officer in Brazil's Federal District for 27 years, and Felipe Teixeira, a police officer in the Federal District for 16 years, who came to Los Angeles for SWAT School.

Note: everything described here applies to California rules — and, on several points, to each officer's specific department. In other U.S. states the rules differ; in Brazil, each police force has its own organic law and exam notice.