How to Get a Level III Commissioned Security License in Texas

The commission is what allows an officer to carry a firearm on duty

A Level III commission is the credential Texas requires before a private security officer can carry a weapon while working a post. It is issued under Occupations Code chapter 1702 by the Department of Public Safety and sits above the Level II non-commissioned registration in the state’s structure. The commission does not create police powers. A commissioned officer still has the authority of any private person: use of force governed by Penal Code chapter 9, no search authority, no arrest power beyond the narrow citizen’s arrest that applies to any Texan. What it adds is narrow and specific: the legal ability to be armed while performing the job, on the posts a client and the company’s post orders designate as armed.

Complete the 45-hour commissioned officer course

The course runs longer than the Level II course and covers different ground. It repeats and deepens the legal material, the limits on detention and use of force, then adds the law specific to deadly force and an armed officer’s responsibilities, handcuffing and defensive tactics, and a firearms segment that ends in a scored proficiency test with the type of weapon the officer intends to carry on duty.

Course component	What it covers
Legal framework	Use of force and deadly force under Penal Code chapter 9, applied to an armed private officer
Defensive tactics	Handcuffing and physical control techniques within the officer’s legal authority
Firearms instruction	Classroom safety and handling, followed by range time
Proficiency test	A scored pass or fail evaluation with the officer’s intended duty weapon

The course is taught by a licensed training provider, the same category of provider that teaches the Level II course, though not every provider offers both. An applicant who has not yet completed Level II should ask the provider how the two courses are sequenced, since the Level III material assumes the legal foundation the Level II course establishes.

Pass the department’s background check for a commission

As with Level II, finishing the course is not the credential. The applicant submits fingerprints, and the Department of Public Safety runs the criminal history check required under chapter 1702. Because the commission authorizes carrying a firearm, the review is not a lighter version of the Level II check; it draws on the same disqualifying criteria applied to a credential with more at stake if it is misused. The commission, once issued, is tied to a specific licensed company, the same way a Level II registration is, and does not transfer automatically if the officer changes employers.

Officers should expect this step to take as long as it needs to take. The department’s processing time is outside both the applicant’s and the company’s control, and rushing the paperwork on either end does not shorten it.

Bring your own weapon and belt to the job, not just the license

The commission licenses the officer; it does not equip them. Commissioned officers at Price Protection supply their own reliable, well-maintained duty weapon of the type they qualified with on the proficiency test, carried in a retention holster on their own duty belt. Hi-Point firearms are not accepted regardless of the officer’s proficiency test results. This is consistent with how the company treats equipment generally: officers bring the personal gear that has to fit them and that they maintain themselves, and the company provides the uniform, the post orders and the reporting system.

What an armed post actually asks of a commissioned officer

Holding the commission qualifies an officer for armed assignments; it does not change the underlying job. An armed post at a pharmacy, a place of worship during services, a healthcare facility’s entrance or a retail location on a 24-hour corridor still runs on observation, presence, de-escalation and reporting. The firearm exists because the client and the company decided the post’s risk picture called for it, and on the overwhelming majority of shifts it is never drawn. Post orders on every armed post keep the same default that governs unarmed posts: deter, observe, report, and call the police for enforcement. The judgment the company looks for in a commissioned officer is the same judgment it looks for in every officer, applied to a post where the stakes of getting it wrong are higher.

Renewal and moving toward Level IV

A Level III commission is renewed on the department’s schedule with continuing education, and it includes repeated firearms proficiency testing rather than a one-time qualification that lasts indefinitely. Officers who hold a current Level III commission and want to go further can pursue Level IV, the personal protection officer endorsement, which requires an additional course on top of Level III. Level IV is a smaller, specialized track suited to personal protection assignments rather than the fixed and patrol posts that make up most of the company’s work, and it is worth raising with the company directly rather than planning around before the Level III commission is even issued.

Applicants who already hold Level II and want to add a commission should read the Level II course guide if they have not completed that step yet, or apply directly through the application page and ask about the commissioned officer track during the interview. The interview article covers what that conversation includes.