Many of our customers who have attended classes elsewhere or work for different security providers have come to our courses with an overwhelming amount of questions, guidelines, and policies regarding recertification requirements – some of which are inaccurate or conflicting which each other.
TCTA wanted to provide quick and clear guidance as to the official process according to D.P.S.
- To renew any license with DPS you must go online using the DPS T.O.P.S website, renew you license(s), and pay the fee no less than 30 days prior to the expiration date listed on your license.
- If you do not renew your licenses on time you will have to pay a late fee to DPS and you cannot work security on expired licenses.
- If you allow your licenses to sit expired for over 12 calendar months, DPS will NOT allow you to submit a renewal, as they will then require you to resubmit an “original application”.
- A Level 2 Noncommissioned license currently requires no Continuing Education course at all. This means you only have to renew online and pay the fees.
- A Level 3 Commission license requires that you attend no less than six hours of Continuing Education which includes classroom, a written exam, and range qualification – all of which must be done by a licensed training academy and by a licensed Instructor. You then go online to the DPS -T.O.P.S site submit your renewal application, pay the fees and upload a copy of your requalification certificate- then wait for the new pocket card to come in the mail to your home.
- A Level 4 PPO Bodyguard license Much like the Commission licenses requires a renewal and recertification course (usually done when you renew your Commision). Your Level 3 Commission license works hand-in-hand with your Level 4 Bodyguard license and expires on the same day. After your recertification course you then go online to the DPS -T.O.P.S site submit your renewal application, pay the fees and upload a copy of your requalification certificate- then wait for the new pocket card to come in the mail to your home.
Okay, now let’s talk about the certificates of completion that are issued from a Training Academy and how long they are good for. There are a few security agencies and training schools putting out wrong information and also refusing to accept certificates that are rightfully valid, as such, we wanted to clear up the misunderstanding.
- Your Level 3 Commission course certificate of completion is only good for 90 days after dated. This is due to the fact that DPS wants to ensure that prior to processing your Commission license that you have been to the range and qualified in front of a licensed Instructor within the last 90 days.
- Your Level 4 PPO Bodyguard course certificate of completion, just like the Commission certificate, must be processed with DPS within 90 days of completion of your course or it is not valid.
- There is a huge miscommunication or misunderstanding by local security companies and other security training schools as far as the Level 2 Non-commissioned certificate of completion. There is no 90-day window of expiration on the Level 2 Non-commissioned certificate of completion. The 90-day window is a firearms proficiency time requirement which does NOT apply to the Level 2 Non-commissioned course or license, as there is no firearms training or qualification within that course. That policy only applies to the Level-3 Commission and Level-4 Bodyguard licensing requirements. When you apply for a Level 2 Non-commissioned license, DPS only asks for proof that you have attended the Non-commissioned course but does not require or state a time frame or window when that course occurred. Right now we have security agencies turning away applicants and refusing to process their Non-commissioned license because their course certificate of completion is over 90 days old and are 100% wrong in doing so. To clarify, we are not talking about an expired license here, only a course certificate of completion.
Just like there is a difference in security guard companies, the same applies with Training Academies and Instructors – Come experience the difference at TCTA!