Somebody in Amarillo decides on a Tuesday that they want to get into security work, and by Tuesday night they have twelve browser tabs open and no clear answer about where to begin. Here is the short version, in the order people actually ask.

I Have Never Done This Before. Where Do I Start?

With Level 2. That is not a preference, it is what the rule says: under 37 TAC §35.141(a)(1), the Level 2 course must be completed by anyone applying for a non-commissioned security officer license. Non-commissioned means unarmed, and unarmed is where nearly every Texas security career begins. You do not need prior experience, a law enforcement background or a referral from someone in the business to take it.

Is this the class with the shooting test?

No. This is the single most common mix-up, so it is worth being blunt about: Level 2 includes no firearms training and no firearms qualification. No range time, no weapon handling, no defensive tactics. Completing it does not by itself allow you to carry a firearm on a post, and it is not a commission. The firearms side of Texas private security belongs to a different, later course.

What Is Actually in the Course?

Four areas, and the content is prepared or approved by the Texas Department of Public Safety, which is why it is consistent statewide:

• Texas security law
• The professional responsibilities of a security officer
• Emergency procedures
• Ethics

For a beginner, the law block is the one that changes how you think about the job. A licensed officer is not a police officer with a different patch, and knowing precisely where your authority ends is the difference between a career and an incident report with your name on it. The responsibilities block is closer to what the shift really is. Watching, logging, reporting clearly, escalating at the right moment. Emergency procedures and ethics are the two that employers quietly care about most when they decide who gets a better post.

What Do I Get at the End?

A certificate of completion, called the PSP 36 here, and it is not decorative. The certificate must be submitted with your license application. Think of the course as producing one document that the state requires and one body of knowledge that the employer requires. You keep the document; the knowledge shows up in the interview.

Can my employer just train me instead?

Possibly, and this is a genuine feature of Level 2 that most people do not know about. Under §35.141(a)(1), §35.142 and §35.143, the course can be taught either by the licensee’s own designated person or by a DPS-approved school with a DPS-approved instructor. If you are already on with a company that runs its own approved training, ask them. If you are not, and if you are reading this you probably are not, an approved school is how you arrive at the application already qualified rather than waiting to be hired first. Note that this in-house route is specific to Level 2; the commissioned course has no such option.

Is There Work for an Unarmed Officer in Amarillo?

Amarillo sits at the crossing of two interstates in the middle of an enormous, thinly populated Panhandle, which makes it a freight, agriculture and energy hub far out of proportion to its size. That shape of economy generates exactly the posts a non-commissioned officer fills: warehouse and distribution gates, truck yard and facility access control, hospital and clinic lobbies, hotel entrances along the interstate corridors, retail centers, school and campus front desks, municipal buildings, and vendor check-in at agricultural and energy operations out on the plains. Wind and energy development across the surrounding counties has added its own steady demand for people who can control access to a site and document who came and went.

The other Amarillo reality is distance. The Panhandle is a long way from most Texas metros, and a classroom course in another city is a genuine expense in fuel and lost hours. Our Level 2 class is delivered 100% online, which removes that problem entirely.

What Happens After I Am Licensed?

You work. And you decide how far you want to take it. Staying unarmed is a perfectly legitimate long-term choice, with one underrated benefit: §35.161(b) specifically exempts noncommissioned security officers from continuing education requirements, so there is no recurring class obligation riding on you. If you want to carry a firearm on duty, that requires a commission, and the path there is the Level 3 course. A separate credential with its own firearms component. Once commissioned, the renewal course becomes part of your routine.

You can check any of this against the rule text in 37 TAC Chapter 35, and questions that come up again and again are collected on our FAQ page.