Three courses, two state agencies and one fingerprint appointment — and they do not happen in the order most people assume. This page is the order of operations, and who owns each step.
Two different agencies are involved. Confusing them is the most common way people pay for the wrong thing.
The Division of Criminal Justice Services sets the training requirement and approves the schools allowed to deliver it. The list of approved schools is theirs, not ours, and it is public: the DCJS approved-school list.
Their own explanation of the requirement: DCJS on security guard training.
The NYS Department of State, Division of Licensing Services, issues the security guard license, keeps the registry and handles renewals. Your license is theirs to grant, renew, suspend or refuse.
The application and the employee statement are the state’s paperwork. Read what the state asks for before you buy any training, so you know what you are actually required to hold. The state’s forms, linked directly.
Security guard applicants are fingerprinted electronically, through the state’s vendor rather than through us. Where and how, on the state’s pages.
This is the entry-level training New York requires of new guards. It is the one course that comes before employment. See the course.
On-the-job training is exactly what it sounds like: it is delivered alongside employment, which is why nobody can hand you that completion before you have the job. See the course.
The annual in-service training is a renewal requirement, not a one-off. Miss it and the license does not stay valid. See the course.
You will be asked for evidence that you completed the training. Keep it where you can find it — and if an employer or the state asks, the answer should be the state’s record, not a screenshot.
That depends on where you are in the process — new applicant, already working, or renewing. Ask before you pay; that is a better use of everyone’s time.