Frisco has no shortage of people offering security training. Only some of them are legally able to deliver Level 3, and the difference comes down to three things you can check before you enrol.

1. The material. Level 3 course material is prepared by and obtained from DPS. No provider writes its own.
2. The school. The course may only be taught by a DPS-approved school.
3. The instructor. That school must use a DPS-approved instructor to deliver it.

And There Is No Fourth Option

This is where people get tripped up, because the unarmed course does have a fourth option. A licensed security company may appoint its own designee to teach Level 2 to its own officers in-house. A practical arrangement that has trained a lot of North Texas guards without them ever enrolling anywhere. Level 3 removes that route entirely. No in-house designee, no internal certification, no company-run version of the armed class. When a firearm enters the picture, the state keeps the training with approved schools and approved instructors, full stop.

Before money changes hands, then, ask the provider directly whether they are an approved school and whether their instructor is approved. It is a fair question and a legitimate provider will answer it without hesitation. Anything you buy outside those conditions will not support a commission application, no matter how good the class was. The Texas DPS Private Security Bureau is the authority on all of it.

What You Get, and What You Still Owe DPS

The requirement

Under 37 TAC §35.141(a)(2), the Level 3 training course is required for anyone seeking a security officer commission, the credential permitting an officer to carry a firearm on duty, and for personal protection officers. That second group needs Level 3 as well, but do not read it as a ranking: Level 4 is a separate course for personal protection officers, with a minimum of fifteen classroom hours under §35.141(a)(3). Level 3 is the commissioned security officer course. Level 4 is the bodyguard credential. They are not two rungs of the same ladder.

The application

Finishing the course does not commission you. DPS issues the commission when you apply, and §35.81(a) requires the application to include copies of both the Level 2 and the Level 3 certificates of completion plus the other items DPS lists. Your certificate is referred to as PSP 30, and under §35.147 an approved school issues the original to a qualifying student within seven days of qualifying while retaining training records for 24 months.

Online Now, Range Later

Part 1 is the classroom half, the law governing armed security work, use of force, the duties that attach to a commission, and the written exam, and ETXSTA delivers it 100% online. Part 2 is in person: defensive tactics, firearms handling and a firearms proficiency exam. The online price covers the online training only; the in-person firearms qualification is scheduled separately and is not included, and no firearms work happens in the online portion.

Treat the written exam seriously even if you hold a License to Carry. §35.144(c) sets the minimum passing grade on Level 3 and Level 4 school examinations at 75%, above the LTC written threshold. The range side is more familiar. The firearms proficiency exam is close to identical in format to the Texas LTC proficiency exam, and §35.145 allows the qualification to use the DPS Primary Issued Handgun Qualification Course or the DPS Approved LTC Course. §35.146 also lays out a shotgun course of fire, so qualifying with a shotgun as well as a handgun is available to commissioned officers who want it.

Why the Commission Pays Off in Frisco

Frisco is corporate-headquarters country. Glass office parks, data-center and technology tenants, a dense band of banking and credit union branches, large mixed-use retail, hotels and some of the busiest event and stadium venues in Collin County. Contracts in that environment increasingly specify a commissioned officer rather than an unarmed one, particularly for cash handling, high-value inventory and after-hours corporate campuses. For an officer already working Frisco posts unarmed, the commission is usually the single clearest step up in the kind of assignment available, and because it follows the officer it moves with you to Plano, McKinney or Prosper without retraining.

Once commissioned, staying current is handled through the armed security renewal course. The rules quoted here are published in 37 TAC Chapter 35 if you want to read them in full, and our FAQ page answers the questions that come up most often before enrollment.