How-to

Know Your 12- or 18-Hour Texas PI CE Route Before Renewal

A documented Texas PI CE renewal checklist that identifies the correct hour route, required topics, credit window, training-school check, and retained proof.

Time: Depends on your licence and course records
Difficulty: Moderate
Cost: No purchase required
Steps: 5

Before you start, have

Your current Texas PI licence expiration date
Your continued Texas PI licensure history
Completion dates and certificates for any CE already taken
Access to the official Texas Online Private Security, or TOPS, Training search
The proposed course description, including subject hours and school name or licence number

Heads up: Texas DPS's public rule uses less than 15 years and more than 15 years. Do not assign yourself a route at exactly 15 years without an individual DPS determination.

Heads up: An 18-hour total alone does not prove that a course supplies the required ethics and Act-and-rules hours.

Heads up: A course must fit the two-year credit window and come from the appropriate department-approved continuing education school.

By Sharon DeCet, Founder · Updated 5 Sept 2026

In brief

Texas private investigators need either 18 hours with less than 15 years of continued licensure or 12 hours with more than 15 years. First identify your tenure, then match the required topics, check the two-year credit window, confirm the school in TOPS, and keep the required proof.

1
Identify your continued-licensure route
Count continued Texas PI licensure, then use the route stated in the Texas DPS CE requirements chart. Less than 15 years leads to the 18-hour route. More than 15 years leads to the 12-hour route. If your record is exactly 15 years or continuity is unclear, stop and ask Texas DPS to determine the requirement before selecting a course.
Tip: Use continued licensure, not general investigation experience or time in another credential.
2
Match every required subject hour
For the less-than-15-years route, make a list that totals 14 investigation-related hours, 2 ethics hours, and 2 hours reviewing the Act and Chapter 35 rules. For the more-than-15-years route, list 8 investigation-related hours, 2 ethics hours, and 2 Act-and-rules hours. The Texas DPS chart is the source for both allocations. Your list works when every required bucket is filled, not merely when the total reaches 12 or 18.
Tip: Do not treat a course labelled only as investigation training as a substitute for the ethics or Act-and-rules categories.
3
Check the completion-date window
Compare the date on each completion certificate with your current licence expiration date. Texas DPS says CE is valid only when completed in the two-year period preceding the current expiration date. Your date check works when every hour you plan to claim falls inside that period.
Tip: Review older certificates before buying a full package, because they may not fit the current renewal window.
4
Confirm the training school in TOPS
Open the official TOPS Training search, select Training, and filter for Private Investigation Continuing Education. Search the school name or licence number. The check works when the active record matches the school and the Private Investigation Continuing Education category.
Tip: A course title, provider statement, or a school record in a different training category is not the same as this TOPS category check.
5
Retain the proof and complete renewal
Keep the school-issued completion certificate with your renewal records and provide a copy for the employer personnel file. Texas DPS says licensees indicate CE completion on the renewal application, while the employer maintains proof in the personnel file. The DPS chart also directs attendees and companies to retain certificates for two years.
Tip: Check that each certificate can be matched to the course, completion date, hours, and your licence or registration information before relying on it.

You'll know it worked when

You have a written 12-hour or 18-hour route, a complete topic-hour list, CE dates within the valid period, an active TOPS training-school match, and retained completion records.

Separate time in licensure before you buy anything

Texas DPS's April 2025 CE chart makes the tenure split the first decision, not the course price or delivery format. Use the Texas PI CE hours by license tenure reference alongside the official checklist, then use the Texas PI CE course planner only after you know which subject hours are missing.

The two Texas PI CE routes Decision flow showing 18 hours for less than 15 years of licensure and 12 hours for more than 15 years, with a separate exactly-15-years check.

A course is useful only when its hours fit your route and its training school appears in the official TOPS Training search under Private Investigation Continuing Education. For a provider-neutral selection checklist, see which Texas PI courses count for renewal.

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Frequently asked

Texas DPS's public wording assigns routes to private investigators with less than 15 years and more than 15 years of continued licensure. It does not assign an exactly-15-years route, so do not choose the 12-hour or 18-hour path from this guide. Ask Texas DPS to determine your individual requirement before enrolling.

No. Texas PI renewal credit must come through a department-approved continuing education school and must match the required subject allocation for your tenure route. A useful investigation course does not establish renewal credit unless the school, timing, and investigation, ethics, and Act-and-rules hours all fit the requirement.

Texas DPS says individual license holders indicate completion of the required minimum CE on the renewal application. The employer must maintain proof in the employee personnel file, and the DPS chart says attendees and companies should retain completion certificates for two years and make them available if requested.

Texas DPS says continuing education is valid only when completed during the two-year period preceding the licence's current expiration date. Check each completion date against that window before counting it toward renewal, even if the course topic otherwise fits your required subject category.

Use the official Texas Online Private Security, or TOPS, search. Select Training, filter for Private Investigation Continuing Education, search the school name or licence number, and confirm the record is active and matches the training category before relying on a course for renewal.

Choose a course only after your hour route is clear

Use the course-selection checklist to compare the school record, subject-hour mix, and completion window.

Choose a Texas PI CE Course

Identify your continued-licensure route

Match every required subject hour

Check the completion-date window

Confirm the training school in TOPS

Retain the proof and complete renewal