Level 3 Security Officer Class in Richardson, Texas

Richardson’s technology corridor is full of controlled-access sites, and a lot of the people applying to staff them arrive holding a License to Carry and a reasonable-sounding assumption. Let’s correct it early, because it is cheaper to correct now than at a job interview.

The Correction, Stated Plainly

An LTC is a personal carry license. A security officer commission is an occupational credential: the thing that permits an officer to carry a firearm in the performance of security duties. The first says something about you as a citizen; the second says something about you as a working officer. Holding one has never conferred the other.

The rule behind it is §35.141(a)(2) in 37 TAC Chapter 35, which requires the Level 3 training course of anyone seeking a security officer commission, as well as of personal protection officers. It admits no exception for people who already carry, and the commission itself is issued by DPS on application. Completing the course qualifies you to apply, it is not the license.

But the Qualification Course Is Common Ground

Here is where your carry license earns its keep. The firearms proficiency exam for a commission is close to identical in format to the Texas LTC proficiency exam, and §35.145 confirms why: the qualification may be conducted using either the DPS Primary Issued Handgun Qualification Course or the DPS Approved LTC Course. The course of fire you already passed is one of the two the state will accept for your commission. If shooting was the part that worried you, it should not be. §35.146 also provides a shotgun course of fire for commissioned officers, so you have the option to qualify with a shotgun in addition to a handgun.

The written side is the genuine step up. Level 3’s classroom material covers the law governing armed security work, use of force, and the duties that come with a commission, ground an LTC class does not touch, and under §35.144(c) the minimum passing grade on Level 3 and Level 4 school examinations is 75%, higher than the LTC written test threshold. Budget your study time accordingly.

Quick Reference Before You Enrol

• Level 3 is not Level 4. Level 3 is the commissioned security officer. Level 4 is the personal protection officer: a separate course with a minimum of fifteen classroom hours under §35.141(a)(3). Neither substitutes for the other.
• Level 2 still comes first. Under §35.81(a), the commission application requires copies of both the Level 2 and the Level 3 certificates of completion, plus the other items DPS lists. Start with the Level 2 Security Officer course and keep that certificate.
• Two parts. Part 1 online covers the classroom material and written exam; Part 2 in person covers defensive tactics, firearms handling and the proficiency exam. ETXSTA runs Part 1 100% online.
• What the price covers. The online course price covers the online training only. The in-person firearms qualification is scheduled separately and is not included.
• Who may teach it. The material is prepared by and obtained from DPS, and Level 3 may only be delivered by a DPS-approved school with a DPS-approved instructor. Unlike Level 2, a licensed company cannot use its own designee to run it in-house.
• Your certificate. Under §35.147 the school issues the original certificate of completion (PSP 30) within seven days of qualifying and keeps training records for 24 months.

Armed Work in the Telecom Corridor

Richardson has an unusually high concentration of technology and telecommunications employers for a city its size, and that mix produces the sort of posts that tend to be commissioned rather than unarmed: data center and network facility perimeters, restricted corporate campuses, research and engineering sites with controlled entry, and the university-adjacent facilities on the northern side of the city. Add the surrounding DFW market, banking branches, medical buildings, distribution operations and event venues, and an officer holding a commission in Richardson is not limited to the postcode they live in.

Once you hold the commission, keeping it current is its own obligation, handled through the armed security renewal course. The licensing side sits with the Texas DPS Private Security Bureau, and if you are weighing which class to take first, our FAQ page and the full class list will sort it out in a couple of minutes.