Requirements for TPWD Law Enforcement Cadets

Texas Game Wardens and Texas State Park Police

All applicants must meet the minimum qualifications outlined below for consideration as a Law Enforcement Cadet with Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Age: An applicant must have reached the age of 21 years on or before October 1, 2027. There is no maximum age limit for employment.

Education: Applicants without prior military or law enforcement experience must have successfully completed and have conferred a bachelor’s level degree from an accredited college or university in any field of study by June 30, 2027.

Applicants with 2-years of military or 2-years of commissioned law enforcement experience that have at least 60 hours of college credit by June 30, 2027 are eligible to apply.

Lateral transfers are not allowed, all applicants, regardless of qualifications or certifications will be required to complete the full academy at the Texas Game Warden Training Center. There will not be an abbreviated version.

Citizenship: Must be a citizen of the United States.

Work Eligibility: Federal law requires that all new employees present original documents that establish identity and U.S. employment eligibility. These documents must be presented at the time of employment.

License: The applicant must possess a valid driver’s license *From any state in the U.S.

Peace Officer License: The applicant must not have had a commission license:

denied by final order
revoked
have a voluntary surrender of a license currently in effect.

Military Service: The applicant must not have been discharged from any military service under less than honorable conditions.

Background: Applicants will be subjected to, and must successfully pass, a thorough and comprehensive background investigation prior to appointment to a cadet position. The applicant must be of good moral character and not have any of the following incidents in their criminal history:

A conviction for any Felony or Class A Misdemeanor offense at any time.
A conviction for any Class B Misdemeanor offense within 10 years prior to the date of application, which includes convictions for DWI (driving while intoxicated), DUID (driving under the influence of drugs) and BWI (boating while intoxicated), never have been convicted of any family violence offense, currently on court-ordered community supervision, and/or probation or parole for any criminal offense above the grade of Class C Misdemeanor.
Applicants who fail the polygraph examination and/or psychological examination from an outside agency will be ineligible to apply for a period of three years from the date of the failed examination.

Salary (Schedule C): Applicants currently holding Schedule C positions with another state agency in Texas, who meet all minimum qualifications, are selected and complete the Game Warden Academy, will return to their current Schedule C salary position after 1 year of satisfactory performance in the field. This applies only to the similar rank of Game Warden VI or below.

Drug Use: Applicant must have no current illegal drug use, within the past 2 years from the start date of the application process. Illegal drug use is the use of a drug that is considered illegal in Texas. For example: Marijuana use in some states is legal, but illegal in Texas. If you used marijuana in those states, TPWD will consider that as illegal drug use. This also includes the use of prescribed drugs used in an illegal manner.

Psychological Condition: The applicant must be examined by a licensed psychologist and be declared to be in satisfactory psychological and emotional health for law enforcement duty prior to employment and the issuance of a peace officer license.

Physical Condition: The applicant must be examined by a licensed physician and be declared to be able to physically perform the duties of a game warden cadet prior to employment.

Hearing: The applicant must meet the minimal standard with or without hearing aids of 35 decibels or better in each of the following four frequencies: 500, 1000, 2000 and 3000 Hz; to include long distance, directional and voice conversation hearing.

Vision:

Uncorrected visual acuity must be at least 20/100 (both eyes) for those who wear glasses or hard contact lenses.
Wearers of soft contact lenses are exempt from uncorrected visual acuity. If you wear contact lenses, you must wear them during the medical exam
Corrected visual acuity should be at least 20/20 (both eyes) and 20/40 (each eye).
Applicant must have uninterrupted peripheral vision of 140 degrees or better, have night vision and be able to distinguish red and green colors.

Physical Readiness Test

The applicant must successfully complete a physical readiness test, which includes the following activities:

Handgun stability
Swim Test
13 Push-ups
22 Sit-ups
4-Minute Row

*NOTE: Before being allowed to take the physical readiness tests the applicant will be required to provide a description of the test to a physician and obtain a written medical clearance.

The application process to become a Law Enforcement cadet is very competitive, and only the top qualified applicants will be selected to attend the Texas Game Warden Academy.

All cadets accepted to attend the academy must pass the entrance physical readiness test at the minimum 70 percentile on the first day of the academy. Cadets not passing the entrance physical readiness test at the minimum requirement will have their conditional job offer rescinded and will be sent home. Cadets sent home due to not passing the entrance physical readiness test or who resign from the game warden academy will be required to reapply and complete the application process again if the applicant wishes to attend a future game warden academy.

Handgun Stability *Dry Fire

Complete five consecutive dry fire trigger pulls with the index finger in the standing position, with both the left and right hand, holding the barrel within a 5-inch ring without touching the sides of the ring.
While holding the handgun with both hands, the applicant must transition to the kneeling position and dry fire the pistol five times while holding the barrel inside a 5-inch ring without touching the sides of the ring.
After the exercise is complete, the applicant is required to return to the standing position without the assistance of placing a hand on the floor or any other object.
Then using both hands, pull the slide to the rear locked position therefore displaying a safe weapon

SWIM TEST

Applicants must fall backwards into the pool and tread water for 1-minute (body upright treading water not merely floating), without touching the sides or the bottom of the pool. After the 1-minute water tread, applicants will be required to swim 100 meters within 2-minutes and 30-seconds. Any stroke may be used. Applicants will be allowed to push off the vertical part of the wall under the water line on each end of the pool or use a flip turn. Applicants will not be allowed to do the following:

Touch or hold the horizontal edge of the pool.
Touch the bottom of the pool.
Hold onto any pool lane markers.
Wear a personal flotation device during the swim test.
Wear or use swim fins.
Wear a nose plug or anything covering the nose completely.

Note: needs to be mentally and physically capable of submerging themselves underwater.

13 Push-ups

Applicants have 1-minute to complete the push-ups.
You may not place your knees on the floor at anytime.
If you rest, it must be in the up position.
Hands are shoulder width apart with legs behind you in a straight line from head to heels.
Keeping your back straight through the entire push-up, you will lower yourself to the floor until your elbows are at a 90-degree angle.
Push back up to return to a full arm extension.

22 Sit-ups

Applicants have a 1-minute to complete the sit-ups.
You must have your feet on the floor and knees bent at approximately 90 degrees.
You must rest in the up position and not lay on the floor at any time.
Hands must be interlaced and placed behind the head.
You must go all the way down with your shoulder blades flat on the floor.
When going back up, your elbows must touch the top of your knee.

4-Minute ROW (This test will be conducted on a Concept 2 Rower.)

Applicants must achieve, at minimum, the 70th percentile VO2 max.
Rowing time limits will be individualized and calculated based upon age, weight, and gender.
The damper set on level 5.
Indoor Rowing Machine Technique — How to uses Concept2 Rowers
4-Minute Row Chart