Article updated June 6, 3:36 p.m. to clarify a quote from owner Glenn Jones in the sixth paragraph. When Jones says TCTA training "surpasses the police department" he was referring only to the hand-to-hand combat training, not the program as a whole.

Preparing the next generation of security

Texas Certified Training Academy Senior Instructor and Manager Glenn Jones is standing next to a video monitor looking grim. The clip he's playing shows a police officer being attacked by a suspect on the side of the highway. Only the presence of a second officer keeps things from getting worse.

"Right away, the officer is too close," Jones said, pointing at the screen. "If that second officer wasn't there, that would be a dead officer."

He points out several other tactical errors to the class in attendance that day. There's no backup. The suspect is clearly sizing the officer up, hesitating on every command before lashing out.

"I get kind of choked up when I see a police officer injured because that's not supposed to happen," Jones said.

For the past 2 1/2 years, it has been Jones' job to help teach security guards and police officers how to handle such confrontations, to make sure incidents like the one on the tape don't happen.

TCTA is a training school that Jones says "surpasses the police department" in its hand-to-hand training and exceeds state minimum standards throughout, a need he saw after finding the state minimum training lacking.

"We saw a need for realistic upgrading of security," he said. "Going through these things, it was a joke There was really no value other than telling the guards to observe and report."

TCTA certainly does more than that. The training school offers a number of classes and offers instruction on using firearms, handcuffs and Tasers, plus baton control and weaponless defense—taken at Tiger Jung Martial Arts—among others.

The courses range in price from $50 for the basic Level 2 course and individual tactics courses all the way up to $380 for more advanced courses.

Each course comes with free lifetime recertification as well, Jones said.

The need for such advanced courses is there, Jones said, because a "new generation of security guards" is coming down the pipeline.

This "new generation" is made up of individuals with high IQs and strong education backgrounds, Jones said, as economic conditions have turned former businessmen into security guards.

Jones himself is former military, having spent a year in Baghdad after serving in the 1st Cavalry Division of the U.S. Army out of Fort Hood. He also said he worked during the Los Angeles riots in 1992, as well as in South Central Los Angeles, as a security guard.

"It really gave me what a worst-case scenario is," he said.

That sensibility has caused Jones to tighten passing standards for certification from TCTA. For example, during firearms training, he will not pass anyone if he or she misses the outline on the target even once during a proficiency test, no matter how high the score is.

"I could care less what the state standards are," Jones said.

Individuals who need training sooner or cannot fit the regular classes into their schedule can take private lessons for $100 per day.

To sign up for classes, visit the website or call 404-9163.

Texas Certified Training Academy, 2541 S. I-35, Ste. 200, Round Rock, 404-9163, www.texasofficertraining.com