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The Fort Worth Police Department welcomes law enforcement officers from other States and has developed a program to make the process easier from start to finish. 

 

First –The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) is the governing body for peace officer certification in Texas.  TCOLE must determine if you are eligible to transfer to Texas from your home state.  Fort Worth Police Background Unit will provide applicants with the TCOLE Eligibility packet and detailed instructions on completing the forms. You will return the TCOLE paperwork to the Fort Worth Police Background Unit for review. Fort Worth PD Backgrounds will submit your paperwork directly to TCOLE.  Do not start the TCOLE Eligibility process on your own or mail forms/documents to TCOLE. There are strict deadlines once TCOLE has processed and approved your paperwork, and if your forms are submitted early, you will be out of compliance before the FWPD TCOLE Prep Program starts.  

 

Second - A FWPD Background Investigator will process your background remotely, and you will only come to Fort Worth once for a three-day rapid processing, so you don’t have to make multiple trips. 

 

Third – TCOLE requires Out-of-State Officers to take eight mandatory courses before the state licensing exam. The challenge for out-of-state officers is completing all the courses, mainly due to several in-person training courses being available in Texas only. To eliminate this challenge, the Fort Worth Police Academy has developed an eight-week TCOLE Prep course program. Out-of-state officers become full-time paid employees (at their lateral pay rate) and receive the seven courses, exam study time, and the TCOLE state licensing exam at the Fort Worth Police Academy. FWPD pays the applicant’s mandatory course fees and TCOLE exam application costs.  

 

List of mandatory TCOLE courses given by Fort Worth Police Academy: 

  1. Texas Supplemental Peace Officer Course #1018 – 120 hours
  2. CIT #1850 – 40 hours
  3. Canine Encounters #4065 – 4 hours
  4. Interacting with drivers deaf or hard of hearing #7887 – 4 hours
  5. Human Trafficking #3270 – 4 hours
  6. De-escalation Techniques #1849 – 8 hours
  7. Civilian Interaction Training - #30418 – 2 hour
  8. ALERRT – 16 hours

 About FWPD

The Fort Worth Police Department (FWPD), established in 1873, is situated in North Central Texas and part of the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex. The department has an authorized strength of 1,882 sworn peace officers dedicated to dutifully serving more than 956,000 people. The Police Department's motto is “Service with Respect, Dedicated to Protect”.

Fort Worth, one of the largest cities in Texas and the 12th largest city in the United States, is a destination shaped by its revitalized downtown, a world-renowned cultural arts district, beautifully preserved Western-heritage sites and major-league attractions. Fort Worth is the seat of Tarrant County, situated in North Central Texas and part of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

Originally settled in 1849 as an army outpost at the Trinity River, Fort Worth was one of eight forts assigned to protect settlers from Indian attacks on the advancing frontier. Progress helped the growing settlement survive long after other such towns had blown away with the dust of departing pioneers. The cattle industry was king for a generation of people working the Fort Worth leg of the historic Chisholm Trail, which ran from the 1860s to the 1870s. Cowboys worked and played in Hell’s Half Acre, located where downtown Fort Worth stands today, before driving the cattle on the Chisholm Trail to its ending point in Kansas.  By 1873, Fort Worth was incorporated with a mayor-council government, and W. P. Burts became the city's first Mayor. 

Since Fort Worth’s incorporation, the city’s population has grown significantly—shaping our city to what it is today.  As of 2022, Fort Worth’s population is estimated at 956,709 and the city limits expand over 359 square miles. Fort Worth has been ranked as one of the fastest growing large cities in the United States of cities with populations of 500,000 or more, has been named one of “America’s Most Livable Communities” by the Partners for Livable Communities, and in January 2013 was named a Safe Community by the National Safety Council.
EmployerCity of Fort Worth Police Department
Founded1873
Employees1,800
HeadquartersFort Worth, Texas
IndustriesPublic Service

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