How to Become a Police Officer in Carrollton, Texas

Carrollton Fire Rescue hires on a separate schedule. Fire CS1 Step 6 Top Out $101,879.55 at 60 months is a fire-only cell on the same sheet. This page is the officer door, not the firefighter row. Facebook copy that names $18.56 an hour and age 18 is social copy, not a city pay cell. Dayforce Detention Officer cards are jail custody, not this officer door. This page covers Carrollton PD.

The license is TCOLE's. The job is Carrollton 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 drawn from Join CPD, flyer 41259, Qualifications, Disqualifications, Benefits and Compensation, Lateral Entry, Academy Information, Pay Plans, Civil Service 40069, TCOLE Statewide Vacancies, and the department listing.

Department listing: Carrollton Police Department. Pay comparison: Texas police salary by department. That salary page still keeps N=12. Carrollton's adopted CS1 Step 1 is sourced here and is not yet a row in that table. City hiring guides in this series: Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Irving, Frisco, McKinney, Mesquite, Grand Prairie, Denton, Houston, Lubbock, Amarillo, Brownsville, McAllen, Waco, Killeen, Pasadena, Texas City, Pearland, League City, Sugar Land, Lewisville, Flower Mound, Rockwall, Lancaster, Cedar Hill, DeSoto.

What Carrollton PD actually is

Recruiting lives under Join CPD. The department hub is Police. Flyer 41259 prints headquarters 2025 East Jackson Road, Carrollton, Texas 75006, and phone 972-466-3028. Recruiter: Officer Joel Carlos, joel.carlos@cityofcarrollton.com. Questions also go to policedevelopment@cityofcarrollton.com.

Filled sworn count, station count, call volume, and founding year are unpublished on the officer sources (0). Flyer badge art reads EST. 1913. That is badge art, not a founding-year document.

The live apply door

Join CPD still lists Next Date Saturday, August 1, 2026. Flyer 41259 required online registration by 9:00 a.m. that same day, with the written exam at 9:00 a.m. at headquarters, doors at 8:15 a.m., no late entry. Retrieval is 2026-08-22. August 1 is past. That sitting is not the next exam. Google Form https://forms.gle/XRmg21Y6GC54LkU49 sat on that flyer. The department listing still lists May 2, 2026 and $67,100. TCOLE Statewide Vacancies does not reprint a Carrollton Police string this retrieval. No live GovernmentJobs police-officer card was on the city board this retrieval.

The flyer says each beginning-position eligibility list is valid six months or until the names are exhausted. That is a list rule, not a live registration door. A next exam date after August 1, 2026 is unpublished. Watch Join CPD and ask Officer Carlos. Hiring is not open on that past registration.

Minimum requirements

Police Qualifications and flyer 41259:

• U.S. Citizen.
• At least 21 years of age at the time of certification (Qualifications). Flyer: at least 21 at the time of receiving a Texas Basic Peace Officer License. Disqualifications: younger than 21 on the date of the TCOLE Police Officer Certification Exam. Those three city measuring points are not the same sentence.
• Education, one path, met by the date of the Civil Service examination: 60 or more college credit hours toward a degree from an accredited college or university, 2.0 cumulative GPA, no developmental or remedial hours; or 45 college credit hours plus one of 2 years sworn peace officer, 2 years active-duty U.S. military honorable discharge, 2 years full-time Carrollton PD, or 4 Good/Satisfactory Reserve or National Guard years; or experience only, one of 4 years active-duty honorable, 4 years sworn peace officer, 6 Good/Satisfactory Reserve or National Guard years, or 3 years continuous City of Carrollton employment. Credits must meet TCOLE Rule 211.1. Experience cannot be combined across categories. Experience must be continuous.
• Never court-ordered supervision or probation for an offense above Class B; never convicted of an offense above Class B; Class B lookback ten years from the court order, including deferred adjudication, community supervision, and probation. Never convicted or placed on community supervision for family violence under Chapter 71, Texas Family Code.
• Valid driver license. If the current license is another state, obtain a Texas driver license. Unsatisfactory driving as printed: three moving violations in three years; three or more moving violations and chargeable collisions in any combination in three years; or two chargeable collisions in two years.
• Good moral character, stable employment, good credit, no drug-addiction history (illegal or abused prescription use case-by-case), able to testify in criminal court.

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)). Carrollton's 21-at-certification hiring line is not TCOLE's 18-with-waiver floor. Read TCOLE peace officer license requirements.

U.S. Citizen is Carrollton PD's hiring line. TCOLE's matching rule is 37 TAC 217.1(b)(17): U.S. citizen, or a legal permanent resident who is an honorably discharged veteran with two years of service and has applied for citizenship.

A Texas driver license is Carrollton's hiring card. TCOLE does not require a Texas license. TCOLE's floor is not prohibited from operating a motor vehicle, 37 TAC 217.1(b)(8). Disqualifications also bar anyone prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.

The city Class A line (anything above Class B) already bars conviction or community supervision, lifetime, and puts the ten-year lookback on Class B, including community supervision. That matches TCOLE's Class A lifetime bar and Class B ten-year lookback (37 TAC 217.1(b)(4), (b)(6)). Family violence bars community supervision as well as conviction, 217.1(b)(7), and the city pages print that Chapter 71 line.

Cadet door is none at apply. Recruits reach the Texas Basic Peace Officer exam after the North Central Texas Regional Police Academy, not at apply. Laterals are a separate certified door.

Tattoos and body modifications: employees are prohibited from body modifications on the hands below a long-sleeve cuff, neck, face, or head, with a wedding-band tattoo on the left ring finger and professional facial makeup excepted.

The test, PAT as printed

Flyer 41259: the Physical Ability Test WILL be completed on the day of the written exam. Written exam is FPSI PACT. A preparation guide is sold at fpsi.com/product/pact-orientation-guide/. Passing score 70. Five extra points for an honorable DD-214 on a passing score. Bring a driver license or government photo ID and a notarized waiver.

PAT events as printed: start buckled in a patrol car; 20-pound weighted vest; run; cones and trees; climb an approximately 6-foot wooden fence; stairs; 32-inch elevated jump; 4-foot simulated ditch; move a dummy of approximately 165 pounds 25 feet. Finish in 1 minute 50 seconds, in sequence. Not CPAT. Not Carrollton Fire's PAT.

After a passing written score: Personal History Statement, PAT (same day on that flyer), screening interview, panel interview, background, polygraph and psychological, physical examination and drug screen, Chief's interview. Reapplication rules: three consecutive written failures, or two Departmental Oral Board failures, wait at least one calendar year plus a substantial change in qualifications.

Academy length

Police Academy Information: North Central Texas Regional Police Academy, 624 Six Flags Drive suite 125, Arlington, Texas. Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., occasional evenings. Basic Peace Officer Course 880 hours, scheduled six to eight times a year. Graduates earn a certificate that qualifies them to sit the peace officer licensing exam. FTO week count unpublished. Academy week count is unpublished as a hiring-page figure. The academy is 880 hours.

See What to expect at a Texas police academy.

Laterals

Lateral Entry Program: certified, finished initial training, at least one year continuous paid full-time Police Officer, including out-of-state as approved by the Chief. Break in service not more than one year. Maximum beginning step is the 5-year (60 month) step. Time at Carrollton plus prior-service credit then moves the officer to the next step. Lateral credit is for pay only. It is not Civil Service seniority. Laterals still sit the Civil Service hiring process.

The police CS1 table does not print a 60-month police cell. Fire-only Top Out at 60 months is $101,879.55. That fire cell is not Carrollton PD lateral pay. The 5-year (60 month) step rule is published. A lateral dollar is unpublished on the police CS1 table.

Pay and benefits

Dated first cell, Civil Service 40069, Pay Plans effective 9-20-2025:

• CS1 Police Officer Step 1 (12 months) $79,571.08
• 24 months $87,103.89
• 36 months $91,458.95
• 48 months $96,031.60
• Step 5 $98,912.10
• Police Officer top-out 72 / 84 / 96 months $104,936.14 / $108,609.09 / $112,410.48

The officer cell on this page is $79,571.08. The department listing's $67,100 is not the CS1 Step 1 cell. The fire listing's $70,000 and fire CS1 Step 6 $101,879.55 are fire pay, not this department. Benefits and Compensation prints those incentive lines as text and prints the pay table as images. Use 40069 for the dollars, not the image.

Benefits as printed: education $600 / $1,200 / $1,800 a year; Intermediate / Advanced / Master Peace Officer $50 / $100 / $150 a month; longevity $4 a month per year, $1,200 cap; night-shift differential $200 when more than 50 percent of time is after 6 p.m. and before 6 a.m. for at least 30 full days. Ten paid holidays. Vacation 120 hours a year until 20 years, then 160; usable after 6 months. Sick 120 hours a year, unlimited accrual, payout cap 960 hours after one year. TMRS 7 percent employee, city matches 2:1, eligible at any age with 20 years. Deferred compensation: employee 4.65 percent, city 2.35 percent. Life insurance two times annual salary. On-duty workout time and free unlimited classes at a local Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym.

Sources, used 2026-08-22

• Join CPD (Next Date Saturday, August 1, 2026; Officer Joel Carlos 972-466-3028; no dollar; retrieved 2026-08-22)
• Civil Service flyer 41259 (exam and registration August 1, 2026 9:00 a.m.; PAT same day 1:50; 2025 E Jackson Rd; age at license; education paths; FPSI PACT)
• Police Qualifications (US citizen; 21 at certification; 60-hour door; Class A / Class B / family violence; DL; retrieved 2026-08-22)
• Police Disqualifications (21 on TCOLE exam date; Texas DL if out-of-state; body-modification line; retrieved 2026-08-22)
• Benefits and Compensation (incentives; TMRS 7 percent / 2:1; images not used as dollar cells; retrieved 2026-08-22)
• Lateral Entry Program (1-year continuous; max 5-year / 60-month step; retrieved 2026-08-22)
• Police Academy Information (NCTCOG RPA; 880 hours; Arlington; retrieved 2026-08-22)
• Pay Plans (Civil Service effective 9-20-2025; retrieved 2026-08-22)
• Civil Service 40069 (Consolidated Pay Plans FY25-26.xlsx; CS1 Police Officer Step 1 $79,571.08; police top-out $112,410.48 at 96 months; fire-only Step 6 $101,879.55; retrieved 2026-08-22)
• TCOLE Statewide Vacancies (no Carrollton Police string; retrieved 2026-08-22)
• Adopted 37 TAC §217.1, effective June 1, 2026 (TCOLE license floor; retrieved 2026-08-22)
• carrollton-police-department (200, $67,100, May 2, 2026); carrollton-fire-rescue (175 sworn; 7 stations; $70,000)