The floor
Court Security Officer
The certification the law requires within an officer’s first year on the assignment.
SB 42 and the standards
What SB 42 requires of a Texas court security officer.
The specialist
Court Security Specialist
The elective path. Seven courses in one week, then an application to TCOLE for a separate certificate.
What SB 42 is
SB 42 is the Judge Julie Kocurek Judicial and Courthouse Security Act, passed by the 85th Texas Legislature in 2017, after the attack on Judge Kocurek in Austin.
It did three things:
- A court security committee in every county, chaired by the local administrative district judge, with the sheriff’s office and the commissioners court at the table.
- A court security certification for every court security officer within the first year on the assignment, codified in Government Code chapter 158.
- A report to the Office of Court Administration within three business days of a court security incident.
What it requires, and what it does not
The eight-hour Court Security Officer course, TCOLE 10999, satisfies the mandate. That is the floor.
SB 42 does not require the forty-hour course. The Court Security Specialist certificate is elective: seven TCOLE courses, forty hours, then an application to TCOLE under 37 TAC §221.41.
Two certificates, on one record
TCOLE treats the Court Security Officer certification and the Court Security Specialist certification as two separate certificates on an officer’s Commission record. An officer can hold both.
Two of the seven courses cannot be delivered online, which is why the Specialist path is taught in a room and on a range. The seven courses are on the 40-hour course page.
The recognized standards
Four documents carry most of the weight, and a courthouse is measured against them after an incident.
- The CCJ/COSCA Court Security Handbook: Ten Essential Elements for Court Security and Emergency Preparedness. Ten elements, each with a self-audit checklist.
- Steps to Best Practices for Court Building Security, from the National Center for State Courts.
- The Texas Office of Court Administration courthouse security self-assessment. The checklist a Texas committee fills out first.
- The U.S. Marshals Service judicial security standards. The federal reference for judicial protection and courthouse design.
Courthouse security assessments, measured against these standards.
The count
Texas courthouses are not getting quieter.
2,100+Court security incidents reported to OCAFiscal year 2025
159The same count twelve years earlierFiscal year 2013
97%Higher again than the year beforeTexas Judicial Council
Source: the Texas Judicial Council and the Texas Office of Court Administration. Incidents are reported to OCA’s Judicial Security Division under SB 42.
Eight hours makes an officer compliant. Forty hours makes a detail.