A Denton officer working unarmed gets an email telling him his continuing education is due, pays for a course, and completes it. He never owed a single hour. The rule that says so is one short subsection: and the same subsection tells you who genuinely does owe them.

Does an Unarmed Officer Owe Continuing Education?

No. §35.161(b) specifically exempts noncommissioned security officers from the continuing education requirement. If your work is unarmed on a Level 2 non-commissioned license, there are no six hours waiting for you and no renewal course to sit through for that purpose.

The confusion is easy to understand. Most licensed professions do impose continuing education across the board, so people generalise. Scheduling software and well-meaning supervisors sometimes flag every license on a roster the same way. And in a market where officers move between armed and unarmed assignments depending on the contract, it is genuinely easy to lose track of which credential you are currently carrying. But the exemption is written into the rule, not a matter of practice.

Then Who Does?

Two groups, named in §35.161(g): commissioned security officers and personal protection officers. They complete six hours of continuing education, satisfied by completing the renewal portions of the Level III or IV training course, as applicable. The subsection requires that continuing education be taught by department-approved training schools and instructors, and it requires a commissioned security officer to submit a firearms proficiency certificate with the renewal application.

Level 3 and Level 4 are not the same ladder

One renewal course serves both because the rule names both, but the credentials are distinct. Level 3 is the commissioned security officer, authorized to carry on post. Level 4 is the personal protection officer, the bodyguard credential, which has its own course and is not a promotion above a commission. Each renews through the renewal portion of its own course. Job postings that lump them into one phrase have muddied this for years.

Where Must Those Hours Come From?

From a department-approved training school, and the rule forecloses the alternatives explicitly rather than by implication:

• §35.162(d): the in-house continuing education exemption available to companies with ten or more licensed employees does not apply to commissioned security officers or personal protection officers.
• §35.162(f): continuing education credits earned through outside entities may not be used to satisfy their requirement.
• §35.161(g): the continuing education must be taught by department-approved training schools and instructors.

When Do They Have to Be Done?

Inside a defined window. §35.161(n) makes continuing education valid only if completed within the two-year period preceding the license’s current expiration date. That is deliberately not the same claim as “renew every two years”. It sets which hours are usable, counting backward from your expiration date, so hours earned outside the window are simply not creditable. Working in the other direction, §35.161(a) bars submitting a renewal application until the required minimum hours are earned, requires proof to be maintained by the employer in the employee’s personnel file, and has the licensee indicate completion on the renewal application.

What Does This Look Like in Denton?

Denton sits at the top of the Metroplex where the suburban build-out runs into open prairie, and its security work reflects that split personality: two universities and the student housing around them, municipal and county facilities, healthcare campuses, a growing band of logistics and light industrial sites along the I‑35 split, and event and entertainment venues that draw crowds from across North Texas. A lot of officers here hold both an unarmed and an armed history, moving between post types as contracts change, which is exactly the circumstance that produces the misunderstanding this post opened with.

If you are the one who genuinely owes six hours, the delivery matters. Ours runs 100% online, which beats surrendering a day off to a classroom on the far side of the Metroplex. Read the scope carefully: enrollment covers the online training only, and the in-person firearms qualification is not included: that is scheduled separately once the online portion is finished. The certificate of completion appears on our site as PSP 31.

Who Holds the Proof?

More people than officers expect. §35.161(m) puts a duty on you: keep certificates of completion for two years and furnish copies to the department on request. §35.162(b)(3) governs what the school issues. A certificate of attendance showing your name and license number, the date of attendance, the number of hours and the courses attended, signed and dated by the school director, with the school retaining records for two years. Your employer’s personnel file is a third copy. If you change employers mid-cycle, the one in your own hands is the one that follows you.

Two edge cases before you enroll. A long absence changes things: §35.141(d) requires someone inactive or expired and not employed in the industry for three years or more to submit current training certificates, which may mean the full Level 3 course. And military service members have room others do not. §35.182 grants two additional years for a continuing education or other renewal-related requirement, with §35.181 waiving late-renewal penalty fees for them.

Everything above is checkable in 37 TAC Chapter 35, with licensing administered by the Texas DPS Private Security Bureau. If you are still unsure which course fits, our class list and FAQ are the fastest way to settle it before paying for anything.