There is a provision in the Texas private security rules written specifically for service members, and nowhere in the state is it more relevant than Killeen. Almost nobody mentions it.

Start With §35.182 If You Serve

§35.182 gives military service members two additional years to complete a continuing education requirement, or any other renewal-related requirement. §35.181 goes with it, waiving late-renewal penalty fees for military service members. Killeen grew up alongside a major Army installation, and a large share of the armed officers working here are soldiers, spouses, reservists, or recently separated. People whose licensing calendar is regularly interrupted by a training rotation, a deployment or a PCS. These two provisions exist precisely for that, and a surprising number of officers let a license lapse without ever knowing they applied.

Extra time, though, is still time against the same checklist. Whether you are using the standard window or the additional two years, the items below have to be in hand before a renewal application can be submitted at all.

The Prerequisites, In Order

1. Six hours of continuing education, already completed.
2. Delivered by a department-approved school and instructor, through the renewal portion of the Level 3 or Level 4 course that matches your credential.
3. Completed inside the two-year period preceding your current expiration date.
4. A firearms proficiency certificate in hand, if you hold a commissioned security officer license.
5. Your own copy of the certificate of completion, kept where you can produce it.

Why “already completed” is doing real work in item one

§35.161(a) provides that a renewal application may not be submitted until the required minimum continuing education hours have been earned. There is no filing ahead of the training. The same subsection also sets out where the evidence lives: proof must be maintained by the employer in the employee’s personnel file, and the licensee indicates completion on the renewal application.

Item two is the one with no workaround

§35.161(g) sets the six hours for commissioned security officers and personal protection officers, satisfies them by completing the renewal portions of the Level III or IV training course, as applicable, and requires the instruction be taught by department-approved training schools and instructors. This is where military experience meets a hard edge. Prior service, weapons qualifications and the training you did in uniform are genuinely valuable on a post. They are not these six hours. §35.162(f) states that credits earned through outside entities may not be used to satisfy the continuing education requirement for commissioned security officers or personal protection officers, and §35.162(d) states that the in-house exemption available to companies with ten or more licensed employees does not apply to them either. The hours come from an approved school, and only from there.

Item three is a window, and it moves with your license

§35.161(n) makes continuing education valid only if completed within the two-year period preceding the license’s current expiration date. Not “every two years” as a routine. A specific window anchored to your expiration date. For anyone whose availability comes in blocks between duty commitments, knowing exactly where that window opens is the difference between using a free month productively and wasting it.

Items four and five: the range trip and the paper

A commissioned security officer must submit a firearms proficiency certificate with the renewal application under §35.161(g). Our course price covers the online training only; the in-person firearms qualification is not included and is scheduled separately once the online portion is complete. If a shotgun is part of your assignment, §35.146(b) sets a biennial familiarization of six rounds of “00” buckshot in connection with renewal of a commissioned security officer. As for the paper, §35.161(m) requires the attendee to keep certificates of completion for two years and furnish copies to the department on request. Useful discipline for anyone who has moved households more than once in that span. Ours is issued as PSP 31, and under §35.162(b)(3) it shows your name and license number, the date of attendance, the number of hours and the courses attended, signed and dated by the school director.

Two Clarifications Worth Having

First, this checklist belongs to armed credentials only. If you work unarmed under a Level 2 non-commissioned license, §35.161(b) exempts noncommissioned security officers from continuing education and none of it applies to you. Second, the renewal pathway is shared by two separate licenses rather than one graded ladder: Level 3 is the commissioned security officer, Level 4 is the personal protection officer credential, and each renews through the renewal portion of its own course.

If a long gap has already gone by, and a multi-year absence from the industry is common for officers who go back on active duty, check §35.141(d) before enrolling: 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, which usually points to the full Level 3 commissioned officer course instead of a renewal. Central Texas armed work around Killeen runs to hospital campuses, contractor and logistics facilities, retail centers and school district posts, and employers here are used to the paperwork; you still want to buy the right class the first time.

Read the provisions yourself in 37 TAC Chapter 35, take licensing questions to the Texas DPS Private Security Bureau, and see our answers to common questions if your situation sits between the lines above.