Skip to content
READY TO SERVE
Create Free AccountSign In
Law EnforcementCareer Guide

How to Become a Police Officer in Brownsville, Texas

9 min readUpdated 2026-08-22

Brownsville last published a police entry cell on Brownsville Firemen's and Police Officer's Civil Service Commission, Notice of Police Officer Entry Level Exam, posted June 13, 2025. Exam Saturday, August 2, 2025, 9:00 a.m., for Probationary Police Officer. PROBATIONARY PATROLMAN ANNUAL RATE $39,711.29. PATROLMAN I ANNUAL RATE $53,220.48. That is the last city-published dated entry cell. The one-year eligibility list from that exam expired August 2, 2026.

Law enforcement pathway

The same notice still sits as a flipbook on Civil Service Exam Notification at Police-Entry-Exam-2025.pdf. That page's live heading is "Stay tuned for the next Civil Service Exam." Watch that page. The 2025 notice is not a 2026 apply-now card.

Employment & Benefits is the department sworn table. The first printed row is Police Officer IV $79,295. Police Sergeant $88,917. Police Lieutenant $101,565. There is no recruit, probationary, or Patrolman I row. $79,295 is not the cadet start. Those two figures are not averaged. The table has no effective-date stamp.

Brownsville Fire, Brownsville ISD PD, and Port of Brownsville PD hire on separate schedules. This page covers Brownsville PD.

The license is TCOLE's. The job is Brownsville 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 last civil service notice, and the stay-tuned exam page.

Department listing: Brownsville Police Department. Pay comparison: Texas police salary by department. That salary page still keeps Brownsville out of the N=12 table because that collection is DFW municipal departments plus Texas DPS, and because $39,711.29 is a dated exam cell on an expired list, not an adopted 2026 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. Amarillo hiring from Benefits/Salaries and Workday JR2397 is How to Become a Police Officer in Amarillo. 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 Brownsville PD actually is

Headquarters: 600 E. Jackson St., Brownsville, TX 78520. Non-emergency (956) 548-7000. PIO bpd.pio@brownsvilletx.gov. Recruiting sits at the Training Center, 1763 U.S. Highway 281, Brownsville, TX 78520, (956) 548-7150, BPDrecruiting@brownsvilletx.gov. Civil Service Director Karina Mendoza, (956) 548-6093, civilservice@brownsvilletx.gov or karina.mendoza@brownsvilletx.gov.

About Us prints the heading chief Sauceda. That page says he was appointed Chief of Police on April 1, 2019. About Us says the force has been here since the late 1800s. That is not a founding year.

The city hub 1426/Police-Department redirects to brownsvillepd.com.

The live apply door

The next entrance exam is not posted as a dated 2026 notice. Civil Service Exam Notification prints Stay tuned for the next Civil Service Exam. Register, when a notice posts, at civilservice@brownsvilletx.gov.

Careers, Police search still reprints NOTICE OF POLICE OFFICER ENTRY LEVEL EXAM for Saturday, August 2, 2025, and lists $39,711.29 / $53,220.48. Registration on that notice closed Friday, July 18, 2025, 5:00 p.m. That reprint is not a live 2026 exam date.

City Search for "Police Entry Exam" still leads with DocumentCenter 16421 (June 17, 2025 index date on the search snippet). No 2026 entry notice was in that first page of results.

TCOLE Statewide Vacancies reprints Brownsville Police Department, Chief of Police, date 08/31/2026. That is a chief card. It is not a probationary patrol exam.

Minimum requirements

The June 13, 2025 notice:

Applicants (male and female) must be at least 20 years of age (must be 21 upon completion of training).

Must be able to pass the background investigation, medical, and psychological exam.

Must be able to read and write the English language and must have a high school diploma or GED.

Must be eligible for future licensure by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE). That is not a TCOLE Basic Peace Officer license at apply.

Registration packet: copy of driver's license or ID; DD-214 if applicable; TCOLE PID number for Basic Peace Officer Certificate if applicable.

Persons who have previously, within 24 months, taken the entry-level test and after interviews and background investigation were not accepted are not eligible.

Military service credit: DD-214 at registration, minimum 180 days active service, honorable discharge only, TLGC Chapter 143 Sec. 143.025.

Existing certification credits: TCOLE certification in good standing at registration for extra points.

Employment & Benefits prints a tighter age line: Minimum age 21. High School Diploma/GED. Must be U.S. Citizen. No Class A or felony conviction. No conviction, probation, deferred adjudication, or court-ordered community service for a Class B misdemeanor in the last 10 years. Possess a valid Texas Driver's License. An Honorable Discharge from the Military. Must pass in-depth background investigation. Must pass a Physical Assessment Test. Must meet other Civil Service requirements.

The exam-notice age is 20 at exam and 21 at training end. Benefits prints Minimum age 21. Those two lines are not averaged into one number. 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)). Brownsville's exam door is 20 at exam and 21 at training end. Those are not the same measuring point. Read TCOLE peace officer license requirements.

Must be U.S. Citizen on Benefits is Brownsville 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 on Benefits is Brownsville 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)). The exam notice asks for a copy of driver's license or ID at registration, and a valid Driver's License at the testing door.

Benefits names Class A or felony conviction, and a ten-year lookback on Class B conviction, probation, deferred adjudication, or court-ordered community service. 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 line is narrower than TCOLE's lifetime floor; the TCOLE family-violence community-supervision bar is the license gate even if Benefits names Class A conviction only.

The Benefits "Honorable Discharge from the Military" line sits next to the exam-notice "DD-214 if applicable" line. Military papers are extra points when they apply. Not every applicant has to be a veteran.

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

The test, a Physical Assessment Test

Written exam first. The last dated written exam was Saturday, August 2, 2025, 9:00 a.m., at the Brownsville Events Center, #1 Events Center Blvd. Applicants arriving after 9:00 a.m. were not admitted. An Applicant Study Guide may be obtained upon request at civilservice@brownsvilletx.gov. A passing percent is not printed on the notice, Benefits, or the stay-tuned page. That gap is not filled from another city.

Employment & Benefits names a Physical Assessment Test. No events, distance, or time cap are printed on Benefits, the exam notice, Police Training, or FAQ. Not CPAT. Not a 2000-meter row copied from another city.

Process on Benefits: 1. Civil Service Exam. 2. Orientation. 3. Background Investigation. 4. Oral Board. 5. Police Chief Approval. 6. Psychological & Medical exam.

Academy length

Police Training is in-service TCOLE courses for public safety officers already working in or out of the agency. Course examples this retrieval include TCOLE #4201 Mental Health Officer Course, June 23-25, 2026. That page is not a recruit academy calendar. A recruit academy week count is not printed on Benefits, the exam notice, About, or Police Training. That gap is not filled from another city's 28-week or 32-week figure.

See What to expect at a Texas police academy.

Laterals

No lateral-entry page, lateral pay range, or live lateral requisition was on brownsvillepd.com this retrieval. Existing TCOLE certification is extra points on the entrance exam, not a separate lateral door. Officer IV $79,295 is not a lateral pay band.

Pay and benefits

Last published entry cell, exam notice posted June 13, 2025: Probationary Patrolman $39,711.29. Patrolman I $53,220.48. List expired August 2, 2026.

Employment & Benefits, retrieved 2026-08-21, starts at Police Officer IV $79,295. Seniority steps: 6 years $1,200; 8 years $3,000; 12 years $4,040; 16 years $5,080; 20 years $6,120. TCOLE certificate pay: Intermediate $1,440; Advanced $2,100; Master $2,700. Assignment pay $2,080. Night differential $1.00 hourly. SWAT $650 annually. Holiday pay 10 holidays at 1.5 rate. Longevity $4.00 monthly per year in department. Investigator clothing $200 quarterly plus $100 boot allowance. Education pay: Associates $360; Bachelors $1,080; Masters $1,440; Doctorate $1,800. Vacation 15 to 21 days by years of service. Sick leave 15 days plus 2 if unused. TMRS: 7 percent gross earnings withheld and matched 2:1. Tuition reimbursement. Funeral leave 5 days.

That TMRS line is the city plan. It is not a Brownsville Fire pension.

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

Ready to start your law enforcement career?

Ready to Serve helps you track certifications, build fitness, and get application-ready.

Create Free ProfileExplore Careers