You have never worked security a day in your life, you do not own a uniform, and you keep seeing Abilene job posts that say “must be licensed.” That is not a wall — it is a form and a course, and the course has a name.

The Entry Point Has a Name, and It Is Level 2

Texas does not ask a new security officer to bring experience. It asks for training. Under 37 TAC §35.141(a)(1), the Level 2 course must be completed by anyone applying for a non-commissioned security officer licence — the unarmed licence that covers the large majority of security work being done in Abilene right now. There is no earlier class you were supposed to take first and no prerequisite you missed. Level 2 is the beginning.

That same rule also makes Level 2 the required first step toward a security officer commission later on. So the class you take to get hired this month is the same class that sits underneath the armed credential you might want in two years. Nothing about starting unarmed is a detour.

Say It Plainly: This Course Is Unarmed

People arrive at this class expecting a range day. There is not one. Level 2 contains no firearms training and no firearms qualification. No weapon handling, no defensive tactics, no live fire. It does not by itself allow you to carry a firearm on a post, and it is not a commission. If that sounds like a limitation, reframe it: it is also why the barrier to entry is low enough that someone with no background in the field can clear it and be working.

What You Actually Sit Through

The material is prepared or approved by the Texas Department of Public Safety, not written locally by whoever is teaching it, which is why the same four subject areas show up in every approved Level 2 class in the state:

• Texas security law — what your authority is, and just as importantly where it stops.
• The professional responsibilities of a security officer — observing, documenting, reporting, and knowing when to hand a situation off.
• Emergency procedures — the part that turns a bystander into the person who knows what to do first.
• Ethics — the judgment questions that decide whether an officer keeps a licence.

The Certificate Is the Whole Point

Finishing the course produces a certificate of completion — referred to on this site as the PSP 36 — and that certificate must be submitted with your licence application. It is the tangible object the whole exercise exists to produce. Treat it the way you would a birth certificate: know where it is, and do not assume someone else is keeping a copy for you.

One useful wrinkle for beginners: Level 2 may be taught either by a DPS-approved school with a DPS-approved instructor or by the licensee’s own designated person, under §§35.141(a)(1), 35.142 and 35.143. That in-house option is real, and some larger employers use it. It also does not exist for Level 3. If you are not already hired somewhere that runs its own training, an approved school is the route — and our Level 2 course runs 100% online, which is the difference between starting this week and waiting for a seat to open somewhere.

Where a New Abilene Officer Ends Up Working

Abilene punches above its population because it serves a very large, very empty stretch of the Big Country — people drive in from small towns across the rolling plains for hospitals, retail and school. That regional-hub role is what creates unarmed posts: medical center lobbies and visitor desks, university and school front entrances, retail centers, distribution and warehouse gates, apartment communities, and access control at industrial and energy sites out where the wind turbines start. Add a steady flow of contractors and vendors needing to be badged in, and the demand for someone dependable at a door is constant.

Practically, that also means Abilene candidates are a long way from most of the state’s classroom-based training providers. An online course removes a drive across West Texas from the equation entirely.

And Then Where?

1. You finish Level 2, submit the certificate with your application, and work unarmed as a non-commissioned officer.
2. If you later want to carry on duty, that requires a commission — which means the Level 3 course, a separate class with its own firearms component.
3. Once you are commissioned, the renewal course is what keeps that credential current.

Here is a detail nobody tells new officers: while you stay unarmed, §35.161(b) specifically exempts noncommissioned security officers from continuing education requirements. The recurring class burden begins when you go commissioned, not before. You can read the underlying rules in 37 TAC Chapter 35, and if you are still working out which class applies to you, our FAQ page and the full class list are the fastest way to check before you pay for anything.