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Law EnforcementCareer Guide

How to Become a Police Officer in Duncanville, Texas

9 min readUpdated 2026-08-22

The City of Duncanville Recruitment page prints an Annual Salary table stamped Rev. FY25-26. Police Officer (no previous experience) Start is $75,387. 1 YR is $77,649. 2 YR is $79,979. 3 YR is $82,378. 4 YR is $90,616. 5 YR is $95,147. 6 YR is $101,267. Compensation and Benefits names the City of Duncanville Pay Plan Effective 10-01-2025. That PDF is the NON EXEMPT pay plan and has no Police Officer row. The first no-experience academy-door cell on this page is $75,387 from Recruitment. Retrieval is 2026-08-22.

Law enforcement pathway

Recruitment still lists THE NEXT EXAM DATE IS SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2026. Prior TML 84571167 still reprints that test at the Duncanville Recreation Center, 201 James Collins Blvd., doors open 7:00 AM and close 8:00 AM, posted 30+ days ago. $75,387 is the Recruitment no-experience cell; $73,910 is fire pay. Those are not the same cell. Instagram still reprints $73,910 as fire pay, not Duncanville PD.

The Duncanville PD department listing printed no officer dollar this retrieval. The Duncanville Fire Department listing still carries 52 sworn / 2 stations. A fire pay table still carries $73,910 certified start / $95,972 sixth-year from Fire Department Recruitment. Those fire figures are not Duncanville PD pay.

Duncanville Fire Department hires on a separate schedule. Duncanville ISD Police is a different agency. City Marshal is Municipal Court, not this door. This page covers Duncanville PD.

The license is TCOLE's. The job is Duncanville 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.

Department listing: Duncanville Police Department. Pay comparison: Texas police salary by department. That salary page still keeps N=12. Duncanville's printed no-experience cell 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, Carrollton, Lewisville, Richardson, Allen, Flower Mound, Rockwall, Lancaster, Cedar Hill, DeSoto.

What Duncanville PD actually is

The live department hub is duncanvilletx.gov/residents/public_safety/police_department. Physical address 203 E Wheatland Rd., Duncanville, TX 75116. Emergency 911. Non-emergency (972) 223-6111, option 4. Administrative hours Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Patrol operations 24/7. Interim Chief of Police Ron Wilcots began with Duncanville in 1999 and was named Interim Chief of Police on August 3, 2026. A news item congratulates Matthew Stogner on accepting Cedar Hill's chief role. Apply from Recruitment. Hiring Procedures is duncanvilletx.gov/.../hiring_procedures.

Filled sworn count, station count, call volume, and founding year are unpublished on the officer sources (0). A staffing study dated February 3, 2025 prints 24 officer positions currently assigned to patrol and recommends 34 FTE patrol officers. That study is not a sworn total. CID prints one lieutenant, one sergeant, eight investigators, two evidence custodians, a victim advocate, and an administrative secretary. That is CID, not a department sworn cell.

The live apply door

Apply from Recruitment. Retrieval is 2026-08-22. That page still names SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2026 as the next exam date. All paperwork must be completed through Guardian Alliance before the test. Applicants are disqualified if they did not complete their Personal History Questionnaire and certify it online. Hiring Procedures: Civil Service exam scheduled on an as-needed basis. TML required the online application before the August 1 test date. The August 1 sitting is past. That date is not an open posting. Do not treat August 1, 2026 as an open sworn-officer door.

The City ESS board at selfservice.duncanville.com redirected to an Upgrade.aspx cookie page this retrieval. governmentjobs.com/careers/duncanvilletx returned 302 to the GovernmentJobs homepage. There is no live NEOGOV officer exam card.

TCOLE Statewide Vacancies printed no Duncanville string this retrieval.

The department listing on this site printed "No open posting recorded" and no officer starting pay (starting pay 0).

Minimum requirements

Hiring Procedures:

  • Must possess a high school diploma or G.E.D. certificate
  • Must possess a valid Texas driver's license and have a good driving record
  • Must not have been convicted of a felony at any time or a Class B misdemeanor or above in the last 10 years
  • Must be a United States citizen
  • Must have an honorable discharge from the Armed Forces, if applicable
  • Must have vision correctable to 20/20

City age is unpublished on Hiring Procedures, Recruitment, and the 2026 study guide. Fire Department Recruitment prints 19 and shall not have reached their 36th birthday. That fire line is not this officer door. 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)). This page prints TCOLE's floor. Duncanville PD has not published its own age cap on those hiring pages. Read TCOLE peace officer license requirements.

Must be a United States citizen is Hiring Procedures' 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 valid Texas driver's license is Hiring Procedures' line. TCOLE does not require a Texas license. TCOLE's floor is not prohibited from operating a motor vehicle, 37 TAC 217.1(b)(8).

City criminal history is conviction-only: no felony at any time, and no Class B or above in the last 10 years. TCOLE's Class A bar is conviction or court-ordered community supervision, lifetime (37 TAC 217.1(b)(4), (b)(6)). Only Class B carries the ten-year lookback. City family violence is unpublished. TCOLE bars conviction or community supervision for family violence, 217.1(b)(7). The city line and the TCOLE floor are both published; a candidate has to clear both.

The test, PAT as printed

Employment Procedures: application form, civil service exam (as needed), physical performance test, thorough background investigation, interviews with the police review board and chief of police, polygraph and psychological test, physical examination by a physician. Any misrepresentation or omission is grounds for rejection or dismissal.

The 2026 Police Officer Entry Level Examination Study Guide (Ure Consulting Group) covers math, reading comprehension, spelling and vocabulary, mechanical aptitude, and logical sequences. Up to three hours. Photo identification required. No late arrivals. No phones. Applicants must make a minimum of 70% to pass.

Applicant Information on Physical Performance Test: Duncanville PD uses the 2000-meter row test. Complete the Concept 2 2,000-meter row and achieve a minimum score of 25%, damper set to 5. The passing score is determined by gender, age, and weight. Testers are certified. Calculate the time on the Texas Department of Public Safety website: select gender and age range, type weight, Desired Results 25, Calculate. You must hit that time or faster. Practice on the department's Concept 2 is available after you apply, once Recruiting contacts you. Gym clothing and athletic shoes. Not CPAT. Not Duncanville Fire's PAT.

Whether the August 1, 2026 sitting still feeds a standing list is unpublished. Next exam TBD.

Academy length

The city has not published a named recruit academy hour count. Hiring Procedures does not require TCOLE before you sit the exam. No-experience Start is $75,387. There is no cadet door at hire: you sit a civil service exam and attend a TCOLE academy if you are not already licensed. This guide does not print a week count.

See What to expect at a Texas police academy.

Laterals

Recruitment prints credited-previous-experience rows, not a separate lateral posting. 1 year credited previous experience starts at $77,649. 2 years starts at $79,979. 3 years starts at $82,378. 4 years starts at $90,616. 5 years starts at $95,147. The live sworn officer entrance exam is closed. This guide does not print a year-for-year table beyond those printed rows.

Pay and benefits

Printed no-experience and credited-experience cells, Recruitment Rev. FY25-26:

  • No previous experience Start $75,387
  • 1 YR $77,649
  • 2 YR $79,979
  • 3 YR $82,378
  • 4 YR $90,616
  • 5 YR $95,147
  • 6 YR $101,267

The first no-experience academy-door cell on this page is $75,387. Fire figures $73,910 / $76,127 / $95,972 are fire pay, not Duncanville PD. The department listing printed no officer dollar. Instagram reprints $73,910. ISD PD $63,552 is a different agency.

NEW OFFICER SIGNING BONUS, Recruitment: no experience $2,500.00 upon completion of field training. Current TCOLE Peace Officer Certification may receive up to $20,000 upon completion of field training. Hiring Procedures reprints $2,500.00 for no experience and $3,500.00 for current TCOLE certification. Prior TML 84571167 reprints less than 2 years $5,000 / 2 years to less than 5 years $10,000 / 5 years and above $20,000 after field training. Those three bonus tables are all published. They are not the same table.

Recruitment benefits: paid vacation 6.66 hours a month (1-3 years), 10 hours (4-8 years), 13.32 hours (9 plus years). Paid holidays. Paid sick time 10 hours a month. Paid Birthday Holiday. TMRS pension plan. Health insurance. Overtime pay. Longevity pay. Uniforms and equipment provided.

Compensation and Benefits: TMRS employee contribution 7 percent, city matches 2:1. Social Security 1:1. Medical insurance for full-time employees, effective the first day of the calendar month following thirty consecutive days. Life insurance equal to one times annual salary rounded to the next $1,000. Free memberships at the Duncanville Public Library and Recreation Center. Optional 457 ICMA, Roth IRA, dental, vision, FSA.

Sources, used 2026-08-22

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