Plenty of people in Garland start searching for security training because they want to end up armed. That is a legitimate goal — but the first class you take is not the armed one, and knowing why saves you from buying the wrong course.

The Road to a Commission, in Order

Texas does not hand out a security officer commission as a single class. It is built in stages, and the order is not optional. Here is the honest sequence:

1. Level 2. The entry-level, unarmed course. Under 37 TAC §35.141(a)(1) it must be completed by anyone applying for a non-commissioned security officer licence, and it is also the required first step toward a commission.
2. Level 3. The commissioned officer course — this is the one that involves carrying a firearm on duty.
3. Keeping it current. Once you are commissioned, the renewal course carries the continuing education obligation forward.

People skip step one in their heads and go straight to shopping for the armed class. Then they discover the application will not go through. The Level 2 course is not a detour around the commission — it is part of it.

Why §35.81(a) Means You Need Both Certificates

This is the part worth reading twice. When the commission application is eventually filed, §35.81(a) requires both the Level 2 and the Level 3 certificates of completion to accompany it. Not one or the other. Both. So the certificate you earn at the very beginning is a document you will still be producing at the end of the process, possibly a year or two later.

Which leads to the single most practical piece of advice on this page: keep your certificate. On this site the Level 2 certificate of completion is referred to as PSP 36, and a certificate of completion has to be submitted with the licence application. Save a digital copy somewhere you will still be able to find it after two employers and a phone upgrade. Officers lose that piece of paper constantly and it is a genuinely annoying problem to unwind. If you want to read the rule text yourself rather than take our word for it, it lives in 37 TAC Chapter 35.

To Be Clear About What Level 2 Is Not

There is no firearms training and no firearms qualification anywhere in Level 2. No range time, no weapon handling. It does not by itself authorize you to carry a firearm on a post, and it does not by itself lead to a commission. Anyone advertising otherwise is describing a different class.

What it actually covers is the foundation the armed course later builds on: Texas security law, the professional responsibilities of a security officer, emergency procedures, and ethics. The course material is prepared or approved by the Texas Department of Public Safety. That is the legal and ethical groundwork — and if you intend to be the officer who carries, it is exactly the groundwork you want solid before the firearm enters the conversation.

Working Unarmed in Garland While You Get There

The good news for anyone on the northeast side of the Dallas metro is that the interim step is not dead time. Garland sits in the middle of a heavy logistics and light-manufacturing belt, and the warehouse and distribution operations stretched along the highway corridors out toward Rowlett and Mesquite run gate checks, dock access control and badge desks around the clock. Add the retail centers, the apartment communities, the medical offices and the municipal buildings, and there is a steady base of non-commissioned work in the area for an officer who just finished Level 2.

That matters strategically. Working unarmed posts while you pursue the commission means you accumulate real Texas security experience, a reference, and an employer who may well have an armed contract to move you onto later. It is a far better position than waiting on the sidelines.

One Rule That Works in Your Favour

While you are non-commissioned, §35.161(b) specifically exempts noncommissioned security officers from continuing education requirements. No annual hours to chase in the meantime. That obligation only arrives with the commission — which is exactly when the armed security renewal course becomes part of your life.

Who Is Allowed to Teach It

Level 2 has a flexibility that the armed course does not. Under §35.141(a)(1), §35.142 and §35.143 it may be taught either by the licensee’s own designated person or by a DPS-approved school with a DPS-approved instructor. Level 3 has no in-house option at all. So if your Garland employer offers to run Level 2 internally, that can be perfectly valid — just make sure you walk away holding the certificate, because you will need it again at commission time.

East Texas Security Training Academy delivers Level 2 100% online, which for a Garland student means no drive and no scheduling around a shift. When you are ready for the next rung, the Level 3 course is waiting; the full class list shows the whole ladder, and the FAQ page answers the questions that come up most.