If you are searching for a Level 2 security class near you, the useful thing to know first is that the class is defined by state rule, not by the school down the road. The Texas Department of Public Safety sets what the Level 2 course contains. A school in Tyler, a school in Houston, and a school in Lubbock all teach the same required material. So the real question is not which classroom is closest to you. It is which approved school can get you through the course and issue your certificate without you burning a day of work driving to it.

Who needs the Level 2 certificate

Level 2 is the entry-level course for unarmed security work in Texas. Under 37 TAC §35.141(a)(1), the Level 2 training course is required for a non-commissioned security officer license, and it is also the first step toward a security officer commission. If you are going to stand a post, run an access point, patrol a property, watch cameras, or work an event without a firearm, this is your credential.

People take it for a lot of different reasons. Some have a job offer waiting and the employer needs the certificate in hand. Some are switching out of retail or warehouse work and want something with a license behind it. Some already work in a related field and want to move into contract security. The course does not change based on your reason for taking it.

What the credential actually is

Level 2 is training, and the certificate is proof you completed it. It is not the license by itself. DPS Regulatory Services issues the non-commissioned officer registration, and your completion certificate is one of the pieces that goes with your application. The certificate is the PSP 36 form.

There is no firearms component in Level 2. None. No range time, no proficiency test, no handgun handling. That is entirely a Level 3 matter. If someone selling you a Level 2 class implies you will come out of it able to carry on duty, walk away.

What DPS requires of the course and the instructor

The Level 2 course material is prepared and approved by DPS. Schools do not write their own version of it. The rule also controls who may deliver it: it may be taught either by the licensee’s own designee, meaning a security company training its own new hires in house, or by a DPS-approved training school using a DPS-approved instructor.

That second route is the one most people use, because most people are not yet employed by a company willing to run the class for them. East Texas Security Training Academy is a DPS-approved school with approved instructors, which is what lets us issue your certificate.

The rule text does not state an hour count for Level 2. Be careful with any school or forum post that quotes you a specific number of hours as a legal requirement. What is required is completion of the approved course material.

What the course covers

• Texas security law, including the limits on what a non-commissioned officer may and may not do
• Professional responsibilities on post
• Emergency procedures
• Ethics and conduct

Most of this is about authority and its limits. New officers get in trouble by acting like police, and the course spends real time on where your authority stops.

Why location matters less than you think

We deliver Level 2 statewide rather than out of one classroom, and we do it online. That matters for a practical reason. A classroom Level 2 runs on the school’s calendar. If the next date is three weeks out, your job offer waits three weeks. If you work nights, the daytime class is not an option at all.

Because the required material is the same wherever it is taught, there is nothing you lose by taking it from Amarillo or Brownsville instead of driving into a city. You get the same approved content and the same certificate. Our online Level 2 course page has the detail on how the self-paced format works, and the classes page lists everything else we offer.

After you get the certificate

You submit your application to DPS with the certificate and the rest of what DPS asks for, including the background side of the process. Once you are registered, one piece of good news: non-commissioned security officers are specifically exempt from continuing education under §35.161(b). Armed officers owe hours. You do not. Keep your certificate anyway, because employers ask for it.

If you think you might go armed later

Take Level 2 knowing it is the first step toward a commission. Nothing is wasted. When you are ready to go armed, the next course is Level 3, which adds law and use of force online plus in-person defensive tactics and firearms qualification. Later on, some officers move toward the Level 4 personal protection officer course, which is a separate credential rather than a higher grade of security officer. Plenty of officers start unarmed and add the armed credential later.

If you are not sure where you fit, read through our FAQs or contact us and tell us what job you are trying to get. We will tell you which course you actually need.