Level 2 Security Officer Class in Waco, Texas

Waco hiring moves quickly, and the Level II course is the fastest part of getting licensed. Here is the full sequence and where the unavoidable waiting really happens.

In Waco the security postings tend to want somebody soon. So the practical question is not whether you want the job: it is how quickly you can go from “I want to do this” to actually being eligible to work.

Start With the Class, Not the Job Board

The mistake we see most often is applying for posts first and training second. Reverse it. The Level 2 course runs 100% online, with no cohort start date and no drive to a classroom, so it is the one stage of this process that bends completely around your existing schedule. Every other stage runs on somebody else’s clock. Get the flexible part behind you while you are still deciding where to apply.

What you are completing is the entry-level, unarmed course required under 37 TAC §35.141(a)(1) of anyone applying for a non-commissioned security officer license. The material is prepared or approved by the Texas Department of Public Safety and works through Texas security law, the professional responsibilities of a security officer, emergency procedures, and ethics. There is no firearms training and no firearms qualification in it. Level 2 is not an armed credential and does not by itself lead to a commission, though it is the required first step toward one.

Then the Certificate, Then the Application

The certificate. Finishing the coursework produces a certificate of completion, which we refer to as PSP 36. It is the evidence that the training happened, and a certificate of completion must be submitted with the license application, so it is not optional paperwork you file away.

The application. Certificate in hand, you apply for the non-commissioned license. This stage rewards preparation more than speed; the people who stall here are usually the ones who started filling it out before gathering what it asks for.

Things that do not add time to a Level 2 timeline, despite what people assume:

Scheduling a range day. There isn’t one at this level.
Traveling to a training center. The course is delivered online.
Waiting for the next class to open. There is no fixed calendar to wait on.

The One Stage We Won’t Put a Number On

After filing, your application is reviewed and issued by the Texas DPS Private Security Bureau. That timeline is the state’s, not ours. It shifts with application volume and with the contents of each individual file, and a training school has no ability to speed it up or predict it. Anybody promising you a turnaround is guessing. Plan for the wait, tell prospective employers honestly where you are in the process, and do not let the uncertainty at stage four stop you from finishing stage one.

An Alternative Route for Some Applicants

Unlike the commissioned course, Level 2 can be delivered either by a DPS-approved school with a DPS-approved instructor or by the licensee’s own designated person under §35.141(a)(1), §35.142 and §35.143. If a Waco employer has already hired you and handles training internally, that in-house option may be open to you. Level 3 has no equivalent. If you are training on your own initiative ahead of an offer, which describes most people reading this, the approved-school route applies.

What Waco Is Actually Hiring For

Waco sits on the I‑35 spine between the Metroplex and Austin, and that location has pulled in a heavy concentration of distribution centers, manufacturing plants and freight operations. All of which run gate checks, dock access and visitor logs with unarmed officers. Layer on the university and college population, a regional hospital presence, a tourism and downtown retail trade that keeps venues and parking busy on weekends, and the apartment construction that has followed the growth, and the posts available to a non-commissioned officer here are varied and genuinely local. A McLennan County license also travels well up and down the corridor toward Temple, Killeen and Hillsboro.

Once You’re Working

The sequence does not loop back on itself. Noncommissioned security officers are specifically exempt from continuing education requirements under §35.161(b), which you can verify in 37 TAC Chapter 35. There is no recurring hour requirement hanging over an unarmed officer.

If armed work interests you later, a new timeline begins with the Level 3 class, and commissioned officers then maintain the credential through the renewal course. You can see how the three fit together on our classes page, and the FAQ answers the questions that come up in between.