Most Tyler officers don’t think about continuing education until a renewal notice shows up. By then the clock has already been running for a while — and the rule is stricter about where those hours come from than most people expect.

Six Hours, and Where They Have to Come From

Texas Administrative Code §35.161(g) is the rule that governs this. Commissioned security officers and personal protection officers owe six hours of continuing education, and the rule is specific about how those hours are earned: by completing the renewal portions of the Level III or Level IV training course, as applicable. It also requires that the continuing education be taught by department-approved training schools and instructors. Commissioned officers additionally have to submit a firearms proficiency certificate with the renewal application.

That last point about approved schools is not a formality. Two separate provisions close the door on alternatives: §35.162(d) says the in-house continuing education exemption that companies with ten or more licensed employees can use does not apply to commissioned security officers or personal protection officers, and §35.162(f) says credits earned through outside entities may not be used to satisfy their requirement either. If you are commissioned, your hours come from an approved school. There is no internal workaround and no generic online CE substitute.

The Two-Year Window Is Not the Same as “Renew Every Two Years”

People shorthand this badly. What §35.161(n) actually says is that continuing education courses are only valid if completed within the two-year period preceding the license’s current expiration date. That is a validity window, not a renewal interval, and the practical difference matters: hours you took too early do not count, no matter how good the class was. And under §35.161(a), a renewal application may not be submitted at all until the required hours have been earned.

Who Actually Needs This

Two distinct credentials share this renewal pathway, and it is worth keeping them straight because the site’s own older material and a lot of Texas security job postings blur them. Level 3 is the commissioned security officer — the officer authorized to carry a firearm on a post. Level 4 is the personal protection officer, the bodyguard credential, which is its own course with a minimum of fifteen classroom hours under §35.141(a)(3). They are not two grades of the same license. Each renews through the renewal portion of its own course.

If you are working unarmed on a Level 2 non-commissioned license, none of this applies to you. §35.161(b) specifically exempts noncommissioned security officers from continuing education requirements. That surprises people who assume every license in the industry carries a CE burden.

Doing It From Tyler

East Texas Security Training Academy is based in this part of the state, and Tyler officers have an advantage that officers in a lot of Texas markets do not: the school is local rather than a drive to a metro. Between the hospital systems, the oilfield service companies out toward Kilgore and Longview, the distribution operations along the I‑20 corridor and a steady base of retail and campus contracts, there is real armed security work here — and the renewal obligation follows the officer, not the employer, so it travels with you when you change posts.

The classroom half of the renewal runs 100% online, which is the part most officers care about, because six hours is awkward to carve out of a rotating shift schedule. Note that the online course price covers the online training only. The in-person firearms qualification is not included and is scheduled separately after you finish the online portion.

Keep Your Paperwork

• You receive a certificate of completion (PSP 31) for the renewal course.
• Under §35.161(m), you keep certificates of completion for two years and furnish copies to the department on request — that is your obligation, not just the school’s.
• Under §35.161(a), your employer maintains proof in your personnel file, and you indicate completion on the renewal application.
• Under §35.162(b)(3), the school’s certificate shows your name and license number, the date, the number of hours and the courses attended, signed by the school director.

Two Situations Worth Knowing About

You have been out of the industry a while. §35.141(d) provides that someone inactive or expired who has not been employed in the industry for three years or more must submit current training certificates to the department. If that is you, the renewal course may not be the right starting point — the full Level 3 course may be. Ask before you buy the wrong class.

You are a military service member. §35.182 gives service members two additional years to complete a continuing education requirement or any other renewal-related requirement, and §35.181 waives late-renewal penalty fees for them. This one rarely comes up in conversation and it has saved people a lapsed license.

You can read the rules yourself in 37 TAC Chapter 35, and the licensing side lives with the Texas DPS Private Security Bureau. If something here does not match your situation, our FAQ page covers the common cases, and the full class list shows everything we run.