The question we hear most often from Midland officers is not about price or scheduling. It is this: do I take the short renewal course, or am I starting the whole Level 3 over from scratch?

It is a fair question and it deserves an honest answer, which is that it depends on your own history, and the deciding factor is not how long your commission has been expired so much as how long you have been away from the work. Here is what the rules actually turn on, and what to confirm before you pay for anything.

What does the renewal course actually consist of?

Under §35.161(g), commissioned security officers and personal protection officers owe six hours of continuing education, and the rule tells you exactly how to earn them: 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. A commissioned officer also has to submit a firearms proficiency certificate with the renewal application.

So the renewal course is not a lighter version of the original course. It is a specific, named portion of it. That is why an approved school is the only place it can come from. §35.162(d) removes commissioned security officers and personal protection officers from the in-house continuing education exemption that companies with ten or more licensed employees can otherwise use, and §35.162(f) says outside-entity credits may not be used to satisfy their requirement either. Both doors close on the same people.

When does renewing stop being an option?

This is the pivot. §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. Read that carefully, because the trigger is time out of the industry, not simply a lapsed card. Someone who kept working armed posts the whole time and let paperwork slide is in a different position from someone who left security for a Permian Basin field job in 2022 and is only now coming back.

If that three-year description fits you, the renewal course is probably not what you need to buy, and the full Level 3 commissioned security officer course is the more likely starting point. We would rather tell you that up front than sell you six hours that do not solve your problem. Ask us, or ask the bureau, before you enroll. A five-minute conversation is cheaper than the wrong class.

Can hours be taken too early?

Yes, and officers get caught by this. §35.161(n) makes continuing education valid only if it was completed within the two-year period preceding the license’s current expiration date. That is a validity window rather than a renewal interval, and the distinction bites: hours banked too far ahead do not count toward the renewal in front of you. Going the other direction, §35.161(a) blocks the renewal application from being submitted at all until the minimum hours are earned, with the employer holding proof in your personnel file and you indicating completion on the application itself.

Two credentials, one renewal pathway

Level 3 and Level 4 both renew through this course, but they are not two rungs of one ladder. Level 3 is the commissioned security officer, authorized to carry on post. Level 4 is the personal protection officer. The bodyguard credential, a separate qualification with its own course. Each renews through the renewal portion of its own course, which is precisely what §35.161(g) says. And if you work unarmed on a Level 2 non-commissioned license, none of this reaches you at all: §35.161(b) exempts noncommissioned security officers from continuing education.

Fitting six hours around a Permian Basin schedule

Midland runs on rotations. Between the energy-company offices downtown, the equipment yards and gate posts scattered out along the highways, the hospital campus and the air terminal, armed security work here rarely lines up with a tidy weekday classroom. That is the practical case for doing the classroom half 100% online: six hours you can take in pieces between tours rather than one day you have to trade a shift for. Note that the course price covers the online training only; the in-person firearms qualification is not included and is scheduled separately once the online portion is done.

You keep a certificate of completion, PSP 31 on our site, and under §35.161(m) you hold on to it for two years and furnish copies to the department on request. §35.162(b)(3) sets what the school’s certificate has to show: your name and license number, the date, the hours, the courses attended, signed by the school director. Service members should also know about §35.182, which grants two additional years to complete a continuing education or other renewal requirement, with §35.181 waiving late-renewal penalty fees for them.

The text is public if you want to check our reading of it: 37 TAC Chapter 35 holds the training rules, and licensing questions belong with the Texas DPS Private Security Bureau. Still not sure which side of the line you are on? Our FAQ page walks through the usual cases.