Three sentences send Lewisville officers to a page like this one. Whichever one you said out loud before you searched, the section with it at the top is the one to read.

“My Commission Expires Soon. What Do I Actually Owe?”

Six hours. §35.161(g) requires commissioned security officers and personal protection officers to complete six hours of continuing education, and it specifies the method: you satisfy it by completing the renewal portions of the Level III or Level IV training course, as applicable. Those hours have to be taught by department-approved training schools and instructors. If you are commissioned, there is a second deliverable. A firearms proficiency certificate submitted with the renewal application.

Where officers lose time is the timing rule. §35.161(n) makes continuing education valid only when it is completed within the two-year period preceding the license’s current expiration date. Read that as a window attached to your expiration date, not as a habit you repeat every other year. And §35.161(a) closes the front end: a renewal application may not be submitted until the required minimum hours are earned, so the hours come first and the application follows.

“Mine Ran Out a While Ago. Am I Starting Over?”

Maybe, maybe not, and one rule settles it. Under §35.141(d), 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. If that describes you, the six-hour renewal is probably not the right purchase and the full Level 3 course likely is. If you have kept working and simply let a date pass, the renewal course still applies. It is a short conversation and it is worth having before you pay for anything.

There is also a provision most officers have never heard of. §35.182 gives military 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 service members. If a deployment is the reason your license went quiet, say so before you assume the worst.

“I Moved Companies. Doesn’t My Old Employer Have All That?”

In this part of Denton County officers change badges often. Between the distribution and fulfillment operations off I‑35E, the office parks and corporate campuses that fill in the space between Lewisville and the Colony, and the retail and events work around Lake Lewisville, it is normal to hold three contracts in five years. So the records question is a real one, and the answer has two halves. §35.161(a) says proof of continuing education is maintained by the employer in the employee’s personnel file, and that you indicate completion on the renewal application. §35.161(m) says you keep certificates of completion for two years and furnish copies to the department on request. The license is issued to you, and so is that second duty. Do not leave your only copy in a filing cabinet you no longer have access to.

While you are checking, confirm your new employer is not planning to cover your hours internally. Two provisions rule that out for armed officers: §35.162(d) says the in-house continuing education exemption for companies with ten or more licensed employees 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. An approved school is the only route.

Who This Course Is Not For

Unarmed officers. §35.161(b) specifically exempts noncommissioned security officers from continuing education, so if you hold a Level 2 license and work unarmed, you do not owe these hours at all. Worth stating plainly, because a lot of people assume every license in Texas carries a continuing education burden.

Also worth stating plainly: Level 3 and Level 4 are two different credentials that happen to share one renewal pathway. Level 3 is the commissioned security officer. Level 4 is the personal protection officer, the bodyguard license, not a step above Level 3. Each renews through the renewal portion of its own course.

The Format, Plainly

• 100% online classroom portion. No drive to a metro classroom for the six hours.
• The price covers online training only; the in-person firearms qualification is not included and is scheduled separately after you finish.
• Certificate of completion, referred to on our site as PSP 31.
• §35.162(b)(3) sets what that certificate shows: your name and license number, date of attendance, hours, and courses attended, signed and dated by the school director.
• §35.146(b) provides a biennial familiarization of six rounds of “00” buckshot in connection with renewal of a commissioned security officer for those qualified on a shotgun.

Read the source yourself in 37 TAC Chapter 35; licensing runs through the Texas DPS Private Security Bureau. Our FAQ handles the questions that do not fit a heading, and the class list shows the full range.