How to Become a Police Officer in Amarillo, Texas

Join Amarillo Police Department reprints STARTING SALARY OF $72,847 and STARTING SALARY AT $72,847, and points at the same table. Those two Join lines match the table cell.

City of Amarillo FY 2024/2025 Approved Budget New Positions POL760 POLICE OFFICER P40 1 FTE $90,250 is one added officer, not Step 1. Those two figures are not averaged.

City of Amarillo Policy 400 Compensation Plan (March 1, 2025) names a Police Salary Schedule approved by City Council, and says Chapter 143 police officers are paid on salary ranges, steps, and time-in-grade set by the City Manager and approved by Council. That policy does not print the dollar cells. The Police Salary Schedule PDF was not opened this retrieval. $72,847 is the department table cell, not an opened ordinance row.

Amarillo Fire, Amarillo ISD PD, and Amarillo College PD hire on separate schedules. This page covers Amarillo PD.

The license is TCOLE's. The job is Amarillo PD's. Those are two gates. The Texas sequence is in How to Become a Police Officer in Texas. The license rules are in TCOLE peace officer license requirements. This page is the department recruiting tree, the Benefits/Salaries table, and the live Workday lateral card.

Department listing: Amarillo Police Department. Pay comparison: Texas police salary by department. That salary page still keeps Amarillo out of the N=12 table because that collection is DFW municipal departments plus Texas DPS, and because Benefits/Salaries is a recruiting table, not an adopted schedule opened for that collection. City hiring guides in this series: Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Irving, Frisco, McKinney, Mesquite, Grand Prairie, Denton. Texas DPS hiring from Training Operations is How to Become a Texas State Trooper. Houston hiring from hpdcareer.com and NEOGOV 5328764 is How to Become a Police Officer in Houston. Lubbock hiring from Recruiting, the 2025-26 pay scale, NEOGOV 5405047, and lateral 5097636 is How to Become a Police Officer in Lubbock. Brownsville hiring from the June 13, 2025 civil service notice, Employment & Benefits, and the stay-tuned exam page is How to Become a Police Officer in Brownsville. McAllen hiring from the August 21, 2026 civil service notice, Staff Services, and the October 13, 2026 exam packet is How to Become a Police Officer in McAllen. Waco hiring from the FY 2025-2026 Civil Service Police Salary Schedule, NEOGOV 5344313, Employment, Training, and Employment Fitness Test is How to Become a Police Officer in Waco.

What Amarillo PD actually is

Headquarters: 200 SE 3rd Ave, Amarillo, TX 79101. Hours Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Non-emergency (806) 378-3038. Recruiting apdrecruiting@amarillo.gov or (806) 805-4748. Human Resources accommodations (806) 378-4294.

The home page prints a message from the Chief of Police. That message does not print the Chief's name. Directory sworn stays 0. Directory stations stays 0.

The live apply door

The recruit posting is JR3258, POLICE RECRUIT on the city careers site. It prints "Deadline to apply: Sunday, December 6, 2026, 11:59 pm" and a civil service test on Saturday, December 12, 2026, at 9:00 a.m., at Amarillo College, West Campus, Lecture Hall, 6222 SW 9th. It lists "Starting Salary: $75,762 plus education, certification, clothing, longevity pay." The Apply Now links on the department's Join and Hiring Process pages still point at the older JR1057 posting, so search careers.amarillo.gov for JR3258.

Hiring Process still lists Career Information Session/Row Clinic dates through Thursday, August 20th, then Written Examination Saturday, August 22nd, 2026, Physical Readiness Test the same day, and 108th Academy December 3rd, 2026. Those session dates are already past this retrieval. Those exam and academy dates are the department page as printed. They are not an open recruit posting.

The in-state lateral posting (JR2397) has closed; it was not on the city careers site on October 14, 2026. Watch the department's Hiring Process page for testing details.

Certified officers can read about lateral pay and entry on the department's Lateral Entry Program page, and check the city careers site for the next lateral posting.

Minimum requirements

Hiring Process qualifications:

Citizen of the United States. That is Amarillo PD's hiring rule. TCOLE also licenses a legal permanent resident who is an honorably discharged veteran with two years of service and has applied for citizenship (37 TAC 217.1(b)(17)).

Possess a valid Texas Driver's License upon employment. That Texas license is Amarillo PD's hiring rule, not a TCOLE minimum. TCOLE's floor is that you are not prohibited from operating a motor vehicle (37 TAC 217.1(b)(8)).

Age 21 on first day of police academy. TCOLE's own floor is 21, or 18 with an associate's degree, 60 semester hours, or an honorable discharge after two years of active service (37 TAC 217.1(b)(1)(A)). Amarillo's recruit door is 21 on first academy day. Those are not the same measuring point. Read TCOLE peace officer license requirements.

Uncorrected vision of at least 20/200, correctable to 20/20 in both eyes (eyesight between 20/100 and 20/200 must have a letter from their doctor stating eyesight is in static condition). Must pass a written entrance exam and physical readiness test.

High School Graduate or GED. GED requires 12 hours from an accredited college with a GPA of 2.0 or higher.

Applicants must provide copies of driver's license, social security card, birth certificate, high school diploma, GED and/or college transcripts, and DD-214 Member 4 form (if applicable). Military service may receive 5 points preference on the Civil Service Entrance Exam for an Honorable Discharge.

Automatic disqualifiers on that page include felony or Class A conviction, probation, deferred adjudication, or community supervision; Class B within the previous 10 years; three at-fault traffic accidents within the previous three years; eight moving-violation citations in the previous three years or three in the previous year; a presently suspended driver's license; any domestic violence conviction; Dishonorable Discharge or Other Discharge based on misconduct; illegal possession or use of a felony-class controlled substance; illegally dealing in narcotics. TCOLE makes a Class A conviction a lifetime bar and puts the ten-year lookback on Class B only (37 TAC 217.1(b)(4), (b)(6)). Family violence bars on community supervision as well as conviction (217.1(b)(7)). The city's Class A conviction, probation, deferred adjudication, or community supervision bar matches TCOLE's lifetime floor; the TCOLE family-violence community-supervision bar is the license gate even if Hiring Process names "any conviction of domestic violence."

Recruits reach the Texas Basic Peace Officer exam after the academy, not at apply.

The test, a 2000-meter row

Written exam first. The next civil service test is Saturday, December 12, 2026, for recruits who apply by December 6. The Hiring Process page links a study guide. The department does not publish a passing score.

Physical Readiness Test the same day: 2000 Meter Row on a Concept 2. Hiring Process links Academy Preparation for the row. Academy Preparation names a Concept 2 Rower Calculator. A single passing time is not printed. Not CPAT. Not a 4-minute damper-5 pass.

After that, Hiring Process lists Background Investigation, Computerized Voice Stress Analysis (CVSA) Examination, Oral Interview Board, Chief's Interview, Medical Examination, and Psychological Examination.

JR3258 says every applicant who passes the written exam takes the physical readiness test after it, the same Saturday, December 12, 2026.

Academy length

Academy Preparation: the Amarillo Police Academy is held at the Amarillo Police Department from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday with some evening and night training. 32 weeks of classroom and hands-on training. The academy is designed so each recruit can take and pass the Texas Basic Peace Officer licensing exam. The page says the academy meets the minimum 720 hours of mandated training and exceeds that with over 1200 hours.

After academy, recruits are assigned to the Uniform Division for a 16-week Field Training Officer Program. Upon successful completion of FTO, new officers are assigned to a permanent shift.

Training and Personnel still links a 102nd Academy Schedule PDF. The live academy named on Hiring Process is the 108th, December 3rd, 2026. The 102nd schedule is not the 108th calendar.

See What to expect at a Texas police academy.

Laterals

Lateral Entry Program describes the lateral route. Lateral applications go through careers.amarillo.gov when a posting is open.

At application, each lateral hire must be actively employed as a full-time paid police officer for a municipal, county, or state law enforcement agency that handles a full array of police work. Age at least 21 by hire date. No maximum. High school diploma, or GED plus 12 hours of college credit at a 2.0 GPA.

Confirm the education rule on the next lateral posting when one opens.

Each in-state lateral completes a short, modified training course. The Chief may send any lateral through the full Amarillo Police Academy. Out-of-state laterals without a Texas Peace Officer license must complete the entire academy, or acquire a Texas license on their own. Out-of-state laterals who already hold a Texas license take the modified course. Probation is one year after being commissioned. Rank from the prior agency does not transfer; the classification is Police Officer.

Lateral base pay is up to Police Officer Step 5 (4-6 years' experience) on the structured pay plan in effect at hire. The Chief sets the step from comparable experience. After FTO, a lateral hired at Step 2 or higher is awarded 40 hours of annual leave.

Lateral Pay Range on that page: $77,219-$93,860. Benefits/Salaries Step 2 is $77,218 and Step 6 is $93,860. The laterals-page low is $77,219 and the table Step 2 is $77,218. Those two figures are not averaged.

Recruit academy dates are on the Hiring Process page.

Pay and benefits

Starting salary on posting JR3258, read 2026-10-14: $75,762 plus education, certification, clothing, longevity pay. The step ladder and add-on pay below are from Benefits/Salaries, retrieved 2026-08-21 and re-read 2026-10-14. That table carries no date; its Recruit Officer (Step 1) line reads $72,847, and this page uses the dated posting instead.

1 Year Officer (Step 2): $77,218 through 5 Year Officer (Step 6): $93,860. Certificate pay: Intermediate $600/year, Advanced $900/year, Master $1,200/year. Education pay: college hours up to $420/year, Associate's $900/year, Bachelor's $1,500/year, Master's $1,800/year. Shift differential an additional 3 percent of gross pay. Bilingual $50 per month. Equipment including Tasers, encrypted digital radios, and body camera furnished. Thirteen paid holidays. Vacation: 15 days per year for 6 years.

Retirement: all Amarillo officers are required to be members of the Texas Municipal Retirement System. The officer contributes 7 percent and the City matches 2:1. Eligible for retirement benefits at any age with 20 years of service. That is TMRS. The Texas Pension Review Board lists a separate Amarillo Firemen's Relief & Retirement Fund under the Texas Local Fire Fighters Retirement Act.

Sources, used 2026-08-21 and 2026-08-22

• Benefits/Salaries (Recruit Officer Step 1 $72,847; Step 2 $77,218 through Step 6 $93,860; TMRS 7 percent / 2:1; retrieved 2026-08-21; Step 1 re-read 2026-10-14)
• Join Amarillo Police Department (starting salary $72,847; Apply Now still points at JR1057; re-read 2026-10-14)
• Hiring Process (written exam and 2,000-meter row; age 21 on the first academy day; still lists the August 22, 2026 exam and the 108th Academy December 3rd, 2026; re-read 2026-10-14)
• Academy Preparation (32 weeks; over 1200 hours vs 720 mandated; 16-week FTO; retrieved 2026-08-21)
• Lateral Entry Program ($77,219 to $93,860, capped at Step 5; re-read 2026-10-14)
• City of Amarillo careers, posting JR2397, In-State Lateral Police Officer (closed; a search of the careers site for JR2397 returned nothing on 2026-10-14)
• City of Amarillo careers, posting JR3258, POLICE RECRUIT (posting start date October 8, 2026; "Deadline to apply: Sunday, December 6, 2026, 11:59 pm"; civil service test Saturday, December 12, 2026, 9:00 a.m.; "Starting Salary: $75,762 plus education, certification, clothing, longevity pay"; read 2026-10-14)
• TCOLE Statewide Vacancies (In-State Lateral 09/18/2026, retrieved 2026-08-21; on 2026-10-14 the Amarillo Police Department row links the JR3258 text, which prints the same $75,762 starting salary and December 6, 2026, 11:59 pm deadline)
• Policy 400 Compensation Plan (Police Salary Schedule named; cells not printed; retrieved 2026-08-21)
• FY 2024/2025 Approved Budget (New Positions POL760 $90,250 one added FTE, not Step 1; retrieved 2026-08-21)
• Apply board careers.amarillo.gov
• Adopted 37 TAC §217.1, effective June 1, 2026 (TCOLE license floor; retrieved 2026-08-21)