The most expensive assumption in this industry is that a lapsed commission is just a late bill: something you settle whenever you get around to it. The rules do not describe renewal that way, and a Frisco officer who waits long enough stops being a renewal candidate at all.

Why “I’ll Just Renew It Late” Misreads the Structure

Start with what has to be true before you can even apply. §35.161(a) states that a renewal application may not be submitted until the required minimum continuing education hours have been earned. Renewal is not a payment gated on money; it is gated on training you have already completed. Filing is the last step, not the first.

Now add the timing rule. §35.161(n) makes continuing education valid only if completed within the two-year period preceding the license’s current expiration date. Note what this does to a drifting timeline: it anchors usable hours to your expiration date, which is why this is a validity window rather than the “renew every two years” slogan people repeat. The longer a situation sits unresolved, the more likely it is that whatever training you already hold no longer sits inside the window that matters.

And there is a point past which renewal is the wrong conversation entirely. §35.141(d) provides that a person who is inactive or expired and has not been employed in the industry for three years or more must submit current training certificates to the department. At that stage you are not topping up six hours. You are looking at the full Level 3 commissioned security officer course rather than a renewal. Buying the renewal course in that position is money spent on the wrong class.

The One Group the Rules Give Extra Room

Military service members are treated differently, and explicitly. §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 military service members. This comes up far less often than it should in conversations about lapsed licenses, and it has saved credentials that officers had written off.

What the Six Hours Consist Of

For officers still inside the window, the requirement itself is straightforward. §35.161(g) requires commissioned security officers and personal protection officers to complete six hours of continuing education, satisfied by completing the renewal portions of the Level III or IV training course, as applicable, with that continuing education taught by department-approved training schools and instructors. A commissioned security officer must also submit a firearms proficiency certificate with the renewal application.

Where those hours come from is not negotiable either. §35.162(d) excludes commissioned security officers and personal protection officers from the in-house continuing education exemption that companies with ten or more licensed employees may otherwise use, and §35.162(f) provides that credits earned through outside entities may not be used to satisfy their requirement. Approved school, or it does not count.

Two credentials share this pathway without being the same license. Level 3 is the commissioned security officer; Level 4 is the personal protection officer, the bodyguard credential with its own separate course. Each renews through the renewal portion of the course that belongs to it. And if you are unarmed, §35.161(b) exempts noncommissioned security officers from continuing education: officers on a Level 2 license owe nothing here.

Frisco Officers and the Calendar Problem

Frisco has one of the densest concentrations of corporate campuses, sports and entertainment venues, medical offices and master-planned retail in North Texas, and armed posts here tend to be steady, long-running assignments rather than short contracts. That stability is pleasant and it is also the trap: when nothing about your post changes for two years, nothing prompts you to look at your expiration date. Officers in more volatile markets get reminded every time they re-badge onto a new site. Here, the reminder often arrives as a supervisor asking for a certificate you have not earned yet.

Our renewal runs 100% online, which is why it fits around a fixed post schedule without burning leave. Two things to be clear about before enrolling: the enrollment covers the online training only, and the in-person firearms qualification is not included: it is scheduled separately once the online course is complete. Your certificate of completion is referred to on our site as PSP 31.

Hold on to the paperwork

• §35.161(m): you keep certificates of completion for two years and furnish copies to the department on request.
• §35.162(b)(3): the school’s certificate of attendance shows your name and license number, date of attendance, number of hours and courses attended, signed and dated by the school director; the school retains records for two years.
• §35.161(a): your employer maintains proof in your personnel file, and you indicate completion on the renewal application.

If you would rather read the source than take our word for it, 37 TAC Chapter 35 is published in full and the Texas DPS Private Security Bureau administers licensing. Unsure whether your situation is a renewal or a restart? Our FAQ walks through the common cases, and the full class list shows every course we run.