How to Become a Police Officer in Fort Worth, Texas

The last trainee application window the city printed was March 13 through May 10, 2026, for the June 3-6, 2026 civil service exam. That exam's eligibility list is already posted. The Greenhouse requisition the city still links (job 7662064003) redirected to the general job board on 2026-08-21, and the board carried no Police Officer Trainee requisition. The second link the HR page prints, Greenhouse 6623937003, redirects to the same board. The next door, on Join FWPD's own calendar, is a December civil service test that fills a June academy. Watch the Police Officer Trainee Information page for the next open dates. Do not treat a closed March-May sentence as a live apply button.

The license is TCOLE's. The job is Fort Worth'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 Fort Worth's own documents.

Department listing: Fort Worth Police Department. Pay comparison: Texas police salary by department. Dallas's own posting is How to Become a Police Officer in Dallas. Grand Prairie's own posting is How to Become a Police Officer in Grand Prairie. Denton's own posting is How to Become a Police Officer in Denton. Same-city fire is a different credential and a different clock: How to Become a Firefighter in Fort Worth. 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. 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. Texas DPS hiring from Training Operations is How to Become a Texas State Trooper.

What Fort Worth actually is

The city's recruiting pages describe Fort Worth as the 11th-largest U.S. city, with more than one million residents. Join FWPD is joinfwpd.com. Recruiting: 817-392-5573, recruiting@fortworthtexas.gov. Office: Bob Bolen Public Safety Complex, 505 W. Felix Street, Fort Worth, TX 76115. The city HR page lists Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Join FWPD contact page lists Monday-Friday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those two office-hour clocks disagree.

This page does not print a sworn headcount. The city HR trainee page, Join FWPD entry-level, FAQ, and requirements pages opened 2026-08-21 do not publish one.

Minimum requirements

Two Fort Worth documents set the floor, and recruiting copy is not always the same sentence. Civil Service Rules, Chapter 5 is the commission rule (age line approved March 12, 2025). The Police Officer Trainee Information page is Human Resources. Join FWPD entry-level and the FAQ are recruiting. Where they differ, both are below. Nothing is averaged. TCOLE's statewide license floor is on TCOLE peace officer license requirements. Chapter 5 and the recruiting pages are the hiring rules on this page.

Citizenship. United States citizen at the time of application (Chapter 5.01; HR trainee page). Must speak, read, and write English (Chapter 5.02; HR says read and write).

Age. Chapter 5.01 and the HR trainee page: at least 20 years of age, and you must not have reached 51, by the date of the entry-level / civil service examination. Join FWPD entry-level: at least 20 by the civil service test, "not older than 50." Join FWPD FAQ and requirements: at least 21 by the date of academy entrance. Those can all be true at once: you may sit the exam at 20 and still need to be 21 when the academy starts. 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)). Fort Worth's city rule is the exam-day 20 / not-yet-51 line. If you are 20, call Recruiting before you plan a December test for a June academy.

Education. Chapter 5.02: high school graduate, or a GED plus at least 12 hours at an accredited college or university with at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale (approved June 18, 2009). The HR trainee page says the same 12 hours with a C average. Join FWPD entry-level repeats the 12-hour GED add-on. FAQ and requirements drop the 12-hour line and say high school or GED, college preferred. If your credential is a GED, treat 12 hours at 2.0 as the live rule.

Driving. Valid, current driver's license and an acceptable driving record (HR). That license is Fort Worth'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)). Chapter 5.05 adds the cuts: not more than three hazardous-moving convictions, guilty pleas, or nolo pleas in the last year; not more than five in the last two years; no pending citation whose conviction would itself violate the standard; not more than two at-fault accidents in the last two years; no license suspension in the last year.

Military. Chapter 5.03: never a dishonorable discharge. Veteran points on the exam require an honorable discharge on the DD-214 (HR trainee page; exam page).

What bars you (Chapter 5.04 and 5.06, plus the FAQ list). No conviction above a Class B; no Class B conviction in the past ten years; no family-violence conviction of any type; no adult felony you knowingly, intentionally, or recklessly committed, and no unadjudicated or deferred felony as an adult; no court-ordered community supervision or probation above a Class C; no unadjudicated or deferred adjudication above a Class C in the past three years except marijuana, which is under 5.06; no current arrest warrant above a Class C; Class C warrants must be cleared within 14 days of notice; no pending charges above a Class C at a DA's office or grand jury; you cannot be prohibited by statute from possessing a firearm. Drugs, whether or not charged: no unlawful marijuana, THC edibles, THC oil, or CBD oils in the last two years; no unlawful paint, gases, glues, or other abusable chemicals in the last five years; no unlawful Penalty Group 1-4 drugs in the last five years except the THC rule above. Adderall (or the usual ADHD substitute) that was not prescribed to you: 12 months. Anabolic steroids: two years. FAQ also names falsifying the file, poor employment or references, and active probation. Chapter 5.09 adds: no intentional false information; delinquent student loans need a written repayment agreement (30 days after the eligibility list posts); child support must be current unless a written court agreement is on file.

Polygraph. You must pass without deception. Three inconclusive exams, each by a different examiner, is a minimum-standard violation (Chapter 5.09).

Step-by-step hiring process

Join FWPD entry-level and the FAQ print these eight numbered steps in this order. The HR trainee page is not a numbered list: it covers the same stages but adds Background Investigation as its own stage and puts Psychological Evaluation before Medical Examination. FAQ says the file can take two to six months.

1. Apply on the City of Fort Worth posting. The city links Greenhouse job 7662064003. On 2026-08-21 that URL redirected to the general job board with no trainee requisition. When a new window opens, that is the door. Incomplete files stall here.

2. Civil service exam. Two hours and 30 minutes. Check-in starts 30 minutes before your assigned time. If you arrive after instructions have been given, you do not sit. A passing score is 70 or greater. Up to five cumulative points may then be added: 5 for a military veteran with an honorable DD-214, 5 for a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university, 2 for a Fort Worth Police Department Cadet Program graduate. Those three lines add to 12. The heading still says "up to five cumulative points." This page prints both. Ties are broken by a number you draw when you enter the room. The June 3-6, 2026 list is posted on Police Trainee Eligibility. Join FWPD: December test fills a June academy; June test fills a November academy. College students graduating in May should plan on the December test.

3. Personal History Booklet. After you pass the written exam, the PHB is due by the deadline they give you: education, employment, military, references, arrests, traffic. Originals (birth certificate, Social Security card, diplomas and transcripts, driver's license, marriage or divorce papers, DD-214) are collected once you enter background.

4. Physical Resiliency Assessment. Entry-level trainees take the four-event PRA (below), not the lateral PAT.

5. Polygraph. During the background investigation.

6. Oral board interview.

7. Medical exam. After board approval. Final appointment depends on the physical. Chapter 5.07: within 180 days before employment, a commission-approved licensed physician must declare you physically sound for the essential functions and show no drug dependency.

8. Psychological exam. Battery of tests plus a licensed psychologist. Chapter 5.08: within 180 days before employment.

Background is the Police Department verifying the PHB. A conditional offer follows a clean background and is still tied to medical and psychological clearance.

Physical Resiliency Assessment (entry-level)

The live city page, Police Officer Physical Resiliency Assessment, lists four events, timed separately, pass/fail, in this order. You must pass all four.

1. Push-ups: 11 or more in 1 minute, protocol form. When form breaks or time expires, the event is over.
2. 500-meter row: 2 minutes 27 seconds or less, fly-wheel air rower, damper setting 5.
3. Sit-ups: 22 or more in 1 minute.
4. 1.5-mile run: 17 minutes 51 seconds or less, on a department-defined track.

Chapter 5.11 prints the same four cuts and names Morris and McDaniel Management Consultants as the job-analysis vendor. It lists the events in a different order (1.5 mile, push-ups, sit-ups, row). Train to the city's PAT-page order. The consulting PDF Join FWPD links is chaper-5-pra.pdf (their spelling).

Chapter 5.11 also says every candidate, full academy or abbreviated lateral academy, must pass the lateral-style PAT before academy graduation. Entry applicants compete on the PRA to get into the full academy. Laterals skip the PRA and take the PAT to get in. Do not train only one of those tests.

Academy and field training

Join FWPD entry-level and FAQ both print 34 weeks, then field training. FAQ: generally 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., not a residential academy, you commute. Leave starts accruing on day one and you cannot use it in the academy (vacation 4.5 hours per pay period, sick 4.62). The city HR trainee page does not print an academy length. This guide uses 34 weeks as recruiting's number and does not invent a field-training week count.

TCOLE's current basic course is Basic Peace Officer Course 736, 736 hours, revised August 29, 2025. The statutory floor in Occupations Code 1701.2551 is 720 hours. Fort Worth's 34 weeks at the FAQ's 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. schedule runs past both. Daily academy life is in Texas Police Academy: What to Expect.

You are paid as a Police Trainee while you are in the academy. That is the $65,520 line, not Step 1.

Pay and benefits

Base (FY 2026). Two city documents, first pay period after January 1, 2026. The FY2026 Salary Schedule prints Police Trainee (1000 / X17) at $31.50 an hour, $65,520 a year (p.14, job-title listing). Its police civil service table, on the last page, prints X03 Police Officer Step 1 at $37.67 an hour. That table's footnote says hourly rates are shown, rounded to the penny; it does not print an X03 annual. The joinfwpd FY 2026 pay table prints the same $37.67 hourly and the Step 1 annual at $78,358.

• Police Trainee (1000 / X17): $31.50 an hour, $65,520 a year
• Police Officer (X03) Step 1: $37.67 an hour on the salary schedule last page; $78,358 a year on the joinfwpd FY 2026 pay table

The HR trainee page matches those annuals as $5,460 a month in academy and $6,529 a month / $78,358 a year on graduation. Join FWPD FAQ matches the trainee annual at $65,520 with full benefits. Join FWPD entry-level lists $5,460 a month in academy and $6,339 a month after graduation. $6,339 times 12 is $76,068, which is FY 2025 Step 1 ($76,076), not FY 2026. joinfwpd.com/benefits still puts $66,000+ in academy and $78,358 on graduation in the highlight, then $5,460 / $66,000 and $6,339 / $76,076 in the list on the same page. This page uses adopted FY 2026: the trainee line as printed on the salary schedule ($65,520, not rounded to $66,000) and the Step 1 annual as printed on the joinfwpd FY 2026 pay table ($78,358). The $6,339 / $76,076 block is FY 2025 copy still sitting on the recruiting pages. The two years are not averaged.

Adds the city prints. Longevity: $4 a month times years of service, up to 25 years. Education, after one or more years commissioned: $60 a month for an associate's, or $180 a month as a college graduate in related areas (HR). Join FWPD also prints $240 a month for a master's. TCOLE certificate pay: $30 a month intermediate, $60 a month advanced. Bilingual: up to $125 a month after a language-proficiency test. Uniform allowance: $325 a year. Shift differential on Join FWPD: 6 percent for hours between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Court on your own time is overtime.

Leave on the HR page. Sick 15 days a year. Paid vacation three weeks. Eight paid holidays. Four-day work week, ten-hour shifts.

Retirement. HR links the Fort Worth Employees' Retirement Fund. FAQ names TIAA-CREF as the retirement-plan provider and says officers earn 2.5 percent of salary per year of service, with full benefits at 25 years. Medical is Blue Cross/Blue Shield PPO; dental is MetLife. Retirees may buy health, dental, and vision at their own cost. The city fund link and the FAQ formula are both published. They are not one plan name.

Promotions. Competitive civil service exam (HR). Classifications in Chapter 3: Police Officer, Police Corporal/Detective, Police Sergeant, Police Lieutenant, Police Captain, plus Police Deputy Chief and Police Commander as positions appointed by the Police Chief. Join FWPD: eligible to take the promotional exam after two years.

Lateral officers

Already licensed? Lateral Entry is a different door. You do not sit the civil service exam. Minimum: two years of full-time experience handling all types of police calls at a local, county, or state agency with at least 30 sworn officers; smaller agencies are case by case. Out-of-state officers and military police are accepted; the department assists with TCOLE reciprocity. Laterals skip the PRA and take the PAT (below). Process: apply, PHB from a background investigator, TCOLE lateral paperwork, polygraph, oral board, PAT, medical, psychological.

Lateral PAT, from the city PAT page. Weighted vest about 14 to 17 pounds. One continuous timed event, 2 minutes 45 seconds or less:

1. From a kneeling, weapon-ready position, stand without using your hands, run about 60 feet including a 90-degree turn, scale a 6-foot chain-link fence, then about 40 feet to the next task
2. About 300 feet in a figure-8 with a 12-inch hurdle and a stair climb equal to four stories
3. Power Training Machine replicating a 180-pound restraint: four 180-degree pull rotations, then four push rotations, weights held at the required height
4. Trigger pull, 18 dominant hand and 17 non-dominant, barrel inside the target ring

Then an untimed victim rescue: pick up about 88 pounds, walk 30 feet around a cone, and walk 30 feet back without setting it down.

Lateral academy. FAQ: out-of-state laterals get the eight classes Texas requires, over 8 weeks; in-state officers then join them for an 8-week lateral academy. This page does not convert those two hourly rates into annuals. Step 1's published annual is $78,358, which is not exactly $37.67 times 2,080.

Out-of-state laterals still need TCOLE. Start with the reciprocity rules.

How to prepare this month

1. Read Chapter 5 against your own age, hours, record, driving, and drug history. The 20-year-old exam rule and the 21-year-old academy rule are both live. Call 817-392-5573 rather than guessing.
2. If your credential is a GED, confirm 12 college hours at 2.0 on an official transcript.
3. Train the four-event PRA in the PAT-page order, at 11 push-ups, 2:27 on the rower, 22 sit-ups, and 17:51 for 1.5 miles. Laterals train the vested PAT to 2:45 plus the 88-pound carry. Everyone graduating an academy still takes the PAT.
4. Do not apply on the stale Greenhouse trainee link until a new requisition is posted. Watch the HR trainee page and the city job board.
5. Start the Personal History Booklet facts now: addresses, jobs, supervisors, citations. Background is the long step.
6. If you already hold a TCOLE license and two years of patrol time, use the lateral door. You skip the written exam.

Career path inside FWPD

Promotions to Corporal/Detective, Sergeant, Lieutenant, and Captain are competitive civil service exams. Deputy Chief and Commander are appointed. FAQ: one-officer patrols by default; two-person units need a supervisor. Take-home cars are for specialized units with after-hours duty, not for beat officers. This page does not inventory specialty units from a brochure.

What to do this week

The March 13 to May 10, 2026 trainee window is closed. The June 2026 eligibility list is posted. Watch the Police Officer Trainee Information page for the next open dates. Train the PRA. Get the transcript or the DD-214 in hand. Recruiting: recruiting@fortworthtexas.gov, 817-392-5573.

Sources

• City of Fort Worth, Police Officer Trainee Information (March 13-May 10 window; $5,460 / $6,529 and $78,358; age 20 / not yet 51; process; retrieved 2026-08-21)
• Police Civil Service Exam (2 hours 30 minutes; veteran 5 / bachelor's 5 / cadet 2; "up to five cumulative points"; retrieved 2026-08-21)
• Police Trainee Eligibility (70 to pass; December 3-6, 2025 and June 3-6, 2026 lists; retrieved 2026-08-21)
• Police Officer Physical Resiliency Assessment (PRA four events; lateral PAT; retrieved 2026-08-21)
• Civil Service Rules, Chapter 5 (age approved 3/12/2025; education; criminal; driving; drugs; polygraph; PRA/PAT; retrieved 2026-08-21)
• Join FWPD entry-level (34-week academy; December/June test calendar; March 13-May 10, 2026 window; stale $6,339 month; eight numbered steps; retrieved 2026-08-21)
• Join FWPD FAQ (34 weeks; trainee $65,520; 21 by academy; lateral 8 + 8 weeks; 2.5 percent / 25 years; retrieved 2026-08-21)
• Join FWPD requirements (retrieved 2026-08-21)
• Join FWPD lateral (no written exam; 2 years / 30 sworn; Step 3 / Step 4; retrieved 2026-08-21)
• Join FWPD benefits ($66,000+ / $78,358 highlight vs $76,076 list; retrieved 2026-08-21)
• City of Fort Worth FY2026 salary schedule (p.14 Police Trainee 1000/X17 $31.50 / $65,520; last page X03 Step 1 $37.67 hourly, footnote hourly rates only; retrieved 2026-08-21)
• joinfwpd FY 2026 pay table (X03 Step 1 $37.67 / $78,358 annual; retrieved 2026-08-21)
• TCOLE course curriculum materials and updates (Basic Peace Officer Course 736, revised August 29, 2025; retrieved 2026-08-21)
• City of Fort Worth job board (Greenhouse 7662064003 and 6623937003 redirected here 2026-08-21; no trainee listing)