East Texas Security Training Academy is based here in East Texas, so Tyler is the market we hear from most: and the question that comes up more than any other is simply how long the whole thing takes.
People rarely ask it that plainly. It usually arrives as “I’ve got an interview Thursday, can I be licensed by then?” or “my cousin did this in two weeks, is that right?” The honest answer is that the timeline has four distinct stages, you fully control the first two, you partly control the third, and the fourth belongs to the state. Here is what each one really involves.
The Four Stages
1. The online course
Level 2 is the entry-level, unarmed course, and 37 TAC §35.141(a)(1) makes completing it a requirement for anyone applying for a non-commissioned security officer license. It is also the mandatory first step toward a security officer commission later on. The material is prepared or approved by the Texas Department of Public Safety and covers Texas security law, the professional responsibilities of a security officer, emergency procedures, and ethics.
Because our Level 2 class is 100% online, this stage has no scheduled start date holding you up. It is also worth saying plainly what is not in it: no firearms training and no firearms qualification, no range time, no weapon handling. Level 2 qualifies you to work unarmed. It does not, by itself, authorize carrying anything on duty.
2. The certificate
Complete the coursework and a certificate of completion follows. PSP 36 in our paperwork. This is the document the rest of the process hangs on, because a certificate of completion must be submitted with the license application. Keep a copy somewhere you can find it again in a hurry.
3. The application
Your certificate goes in with the application for a non-commissioned license. How long this stage takes is genuinely up to you. It is the assembling and the accuracy, not any external queue. People who have their details straight finish it in one sitting; people who guess at answers create the delays they later complain about.
4. What happens after you file
This one is not ours to promise. Review and issuance sit entirely with the Texas DPS Private Security Bureau, and processing times move with volume and with what is in your individual file. We will not give you a date, and we would be skeptical of any school that does. What we will tell you is that the training stage is the one you can knock out now, so that when the state’s clock starts, it starts as early as possible.
A Shortcut Some Tyler Applicants Qualify For
Level 2 is unusual among the security courses in that it can be taught two ways: by a DPS-approved school with a DPS-approved instructor, or by the licensee’s own designated person (§35.141(a)(1), §35.142, §35.143). If one of the larger employers in town has already hired you and runs designated training internally, that may be your fastest route and you should ask before you pay for anything. Level 3 offers no comparable in-house option. For everyone training ahead of a job offer, the approved-school path is the one that fits.
Where a Non-Commissioned License Gets Used Around Here
Tyler is the service hub for a wide stretch of East Texas, and that shows up in the posts that hire. The regional medical district draws patients from counties in every direction, which means hospital and clinic lobbies, outpatient buildings and visitor desks. The two campuses bring student housing and front-desk work. The retail corridor out along South Broadway, the newer distribution and warehouse space near the I‑20 and Loop 323 approaches, apartment communities on the north and south sides, and the steady construction that comes with a growing county all run on unarmed access control. Officers here also take contract work that reaches out toward Whitehouse, Lindale, Kilgore and Longview, so a license earned in Tyler travels across the whole piney-woods corridor.
And Then the Timeline Stops
The part almost nobody expects: once you are licensed and working unarmed, there is no continuing education treadmill. Noncommissioned security officers are specifically exempt from continuing education requirements under §35.161(b). If that sounds too good, the rule is public. Read it in 37 TAC Chapter 35.
A second timeline only begins if you decide you want armed work. That starts with the Level 3 course for a commission, and commissioned officers keep it current afterwards through the armed renewal course. Plenty of East Texas officers never take that turn, and there is nothing wrong with that. If you are unsure which class your situation calls for, the FAQ page covers the questions we field weekly.
Leave a Reply