As far as the Lv-3 Commission or the Lv-4 Personal Protection (Bodyguard course)- absolutely not. As far as the Lv2 Non-Commission class- great question.
The Commission and Bodyguard course MUST be given by a DPS licensed training academy and given by a DPS licensed instructor. DPS has made some changes to the Lv2 Non-Commission class over the years and almost (in our opinion created liabilities). They had their own online process prior to 2010, then they removed it and created a classroom course and test. A few years later they required that class be six hours, a few years after that they reversed themselves and took away (1) The time requirement (2) removed that it does not need to be given by a training academy (3) removed that it does not need to be given by an instructor (4) removed the words “must be given in a classroom enviorment” (now some ran with this and said “hey lets do an online class” and we are unsure if that was the intention of the changes.
We all know an online class is a shortcut, and many are lazy and don’t want to sit through a few hours of a complete class we get it. But here are the problems with an online Non-Commision class: (A) how does that school know who is taking the test and not someone else? (B) how do you know the student is not cheating on the test? (C) how do you ask the instructor for help? (D) How are these school Instructors and Managers signing they “trained you” when they never met you or verified who you are? You might not even be in this state taking the exam. Can you imagine how stupid a school will look if they email out certificates of training to terrorists (who take their class online), or any person who provides a fake name, or a name of a famous dead person then publicized it- that school will look like idiots in the media. I can see it now someone posts a certificate they got online from ABC security training with the name “Osama Bin Laden” or “Abraham Lincoln”- and it will show how unsafe, unreliable, and untrustworthy those sites are. As an employer we recommend never taking a certificate for an online security class, that says something about your employee (lazy and will take shortcuts), to include still untrained.
Do it right and take a proper class especially in this industry your life and liability is on the line.