Your Texas requirements
What you will learn
- Identify the authority for your location
- Explain your next training and application steps
- Know which details to confirm before starting work
Connect the shared foundations to your state entry route and official next steps.
Your shift starts here
What would you do next?
You have finished the online foundations lessons and found an employer in Texas. The employer asks when you can start.
Choose a response to see what happens.
Put it into practice
Verify your training next step
You are considering paying for a course. Build this verification plan in dependency order: define your target, establish the relevant requirements, check the exact course against them, then use the confirmed answers to decide.
Select the steps in the order you would take them.
- Choose step 1 below
Lesson notes & sources
Your state entry route
Texas's ordinary unarmed employee route is the Non-Commissioned Security Officer license, applied for through Texas Online Private Security, known as TOPS.
Complete the Level II course and test through an authorized training school or licensed guard company, then retain the certificate.
Connect with an employer
Confirm the licensed security company's role and your TOPS employer affiliation.
Complete Level II
Verify that the training provider can administer the required course.
Apply in TOPS
Submit the paid application, training certificate and electronic fingerprints, following your personalized checklist.
Confirm permission to start
Have the employer check DPS status and the specific pre-license employment conditions before deployment.
Confirm your situation
The 45-hour Level III course applies to commissioned officers.
General preparation does not automatically satisfy Level II requirements.
Prepare for your assessment route
Texas non-commissioned security officers complete the DPS Level II course and test. An eligible licensed training school or licensed guard company administers the recognised course and assessment.
Confirm the accepted delivery, current test format, pass mark and timing with your provider. Use the provider’s current DPS-aligned materials for the recognised assessment.
Keep your sources current
These sources were checked on 2026-09-16. Check the linked regulator for changes before applying.
The Get Licensed foundations course is supplementary preparation. Follow the required approved training and authorisation process for your location.