TCOLE 1016: What Texas’s FREE SFST Instructor Course Actually Builds

Most agencies do not struggle to find an SFST practitioner. They struggle to keep the training pipeline moving when the only option is waiting on an outside instructor. That is the job TCOLE course 1016 is built for. It is the 50-hour Standardized Field Sobriety Testing Instructor school, and graduates are expected to teach the Practitioner course and the SFST Refresher to their own people.

In plain terms, it is train-the-trainer work. You are not sitting another DWI refresh. You are learning how to deliver the NHTSA/IACP curriculum the same way every other Texas instructor is supposed to teach it.

Who runs it: Texas SFST (TXSFST)

The host is the Texas Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST) Training Program, often shortened to TXSFST. Their stated purpose is straightforward: improve how licensed Texas peace officers administer the SFST tests, identify clues, and cut alcohol-related crashes by making instruction consistent statewide.

TXSFST is not a one-off vendor class. The program works out of Austin (6200 La Calma Drive, Suite 200), runs on a Texas Department of Transportation grant, and fields a core staff plus a statewide contract-instructor bench so the same curriculum can travel. Phone: (800) 848-2088. On their own site they list three SFST tracks: an 8-hour Refresher, a 24-hour Practitioner course, and this 50-hour Instructor course. Cost on the live instructor seats prints as FREE for qualifying Texas peace officers.

APT’s course card is here: SFST Instructor Course. TXSFST’s program page is txsfst.org/sfst.

What the 50-hour instructor seat actually gives you

TCOLE’s specific-course table lists 1016 as S.F.S.T. Instructor (50 to 100 hours). The practitioner class is a different number, usually 2067 (or related practitioner reporting numbers such as 2176). Practitioners learn to administer and score the battery. Instructors learn to teach that material: adult learning, delivery, questioning, demonstrations, and how to evaluate student performance while keeping the national curriculum intact.

TXSFST’s event copy is explicit about the outcome. Graduates are prepared to instruct the Standardized Field Sobriety Testing Practitioner Course and the SFST Refresher. For a training lieutenant or academy coordinator, that is the difference between buying seats forever and growing instructors who can run the room at home.

The week is five days and 50 hours. TXSFST requires full participation and demonstration, plus work outside class. Students take an SFST proficiency exam at the start. Fail it and you are dismissed with no course credit. Typical printed hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, with longer Wednesday (and often Thursday) blocks, plus about two hours of presentation prep outside the classroom. Schedules are marked tentative on the event pages.

Course 1016 is also the classroom piece that feeds TCOLE’s separate SFST instructor proficiency certificate under Rule 221.33 (updated June 1, 2026). Do not confuse 1016 with 2177, the instructor update. 1016 builds the instructor; 2177 keeps one current.

Who can get in

Live TXSFST event pages list the gatekeeping criteria at registration time:

• Currently commissioned Texas peace officer

• NHTSA SFST Practitioner (2176 or 2067, or SFST taken with the academy)

• Three years as an SFST practitioner

• SFST Refresher, ARIDE, or DRE in-service within the last two years

• A TCOLE Basic Instructor proficiency license or certificate

You are not registered until the confirmation email arrives. Apply by emailing a TCOLE Personal Status Report (PSR) to [email protected] with your name, agency, email, phone, and the course you want. That process is on TXSFST’s own event pages, not an APT form.

Upcoming FREE 1016 weeks (use TXSFST confirmation as final)

These are the five-day report-for-duty weeks posted on TXSFST.org as of September 2, 2026. APT event pages sometimes show a wider listing window that ends on the same Friday; treat the confirmation email as the last word on when to show up.

• Killeen — October 19–23, 2026, Killeen Police Training Academy. TXSFST marks this seat FULL.

• Longview — November 2–6, 2026, East Texas Police Academy.

• Corpus Christi — January 11–15, 2027, Corpus Christi Police Training Academy.

• Fort Worth / Tarrant County — March 1–5, 2027, Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office.

• Pasadena — April 5–9, 2027, Les Early Firearms Training Center.

• Amarillo — July 26–30, 2027, Amarillo College First Responder Academy.

Report 1016 when the student completes the instructor class. If your agency needs an in-house SFST instructor rather than another round of contractor seats, these are the FREE Texas dates to put in front of command staff now.

Sources: TCOLE specific course reporting numbers (1016 S.F.S.T. Instructor; practitioner numbers including 2067); Texas SFST Training Program; TXSFST.org event listings for Killeen, Longview, Corpus Christi, Fort Worth, Pasadena, and Amarillo (captured September 2, 2026); TCOLE Rule 221.33 (SFST instructor certificate, effective June 1, 2026); APT course and event pages for the same seats.