Court Security Conference
Whether it is courthouse, cyber, or personal security, the court needs to work together on appropriate plans and procedures. TMCEC is offering a two-day conference for all municipal court personnel focused on enhancing court security. Attendance at all sessions of this conference counts for 12 hours of judicial education credit and clerk certification credit.
Click here to see the latest Academic Schedule.
Important Update: TMCEC is no longer a TCOLE training provider. This means TMCEC cannot report TCOLE credit for any of its courses. The Online Court Security Officer Course (10999), which was developed by TMCEC and hosted on the Online Learning Center, is no longer offered through TMCEC. However, this course is now available on the TCOLE website free of charge for all court security officers: www.tcole.texas.gov. Login to your MyTCOLE Account or create an account to access the course. Because court security officers are court personnel, TMCEC invites and encourages them to attend our Court Security Conference and other courses that are open to court security officers.
Around the State: News and Updates
Effective September 1, 2017, a person may not serve as a court security officer for an appellate, district, statutory county, county, municipal or justice court in this state unless the person holds a court security certification issued by a training program approved by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE). However, a court security officer is not required to hold a court security certification to provide security to a court before the first anniversary of the date the officer begins providing security for the court. A court security officer is defined as a constable, sheriff, sheriff’s deputy, municipal peace officer, or any other person assigned to provide security for an appellate, district, statutory county, county, municipal, or justice court in this state. (See, S.B. 42, 85th Legislature, 2017.)
The changes in law regarding court security certification are a result of S.B. 42 from the 85th Legislative Session in 2017 (See also, the TMCEC bill summary and commentary). Note that the bill provides that a person serving as a court security officer on the effective date of the Act (September 1, 2017) was not required to receive the required certification before September 1, 2019 (See Section 30 of the bill). TCOLE, in consultation with OCA, developed a model court security curriculum for court security officers (Course 10999), which is now available on the TCOLE website. This course should not be confused with the court security specialist certification (see below). Course 10999 is required for all persons performing court security in any court in Texas. The court security specialist certification is not required, but does satisfy the mandate in S.B. 42.
Other News
For information on OCA’s security division and how to secure privacy protections for judges, see the OCA’s Court Security webpage.