GA Code § 47-17-70 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 47 - Retirement and Pensions|Chapter 17 - Peace Officers' Annuity and Benefit Fund|Article 5 - Service Creditable Toward Retirement|§ 47-17-70. Prior Service Credit for Members Who First Apply for Membership on or After May 1, 1968; Credit for Service in the Armed Forces of the United States

  No peace officer who first makes application for membership in the fund on or after May 1, 1968, shall be given credit for any prior service, and such peace officer shall receive credit only from the date he or she becomes a member of the fund; provided, however, a member may claim a maximum of five years for service as a peace officer prior to such member's joining the fund if such member complies with subsection (c) of Code Section 47-17-44 and remains an active member of the fund for a period of time at least equal to the number of years claimed for prior service; provided, further, that any member defined in subparagraph (J) of paragraph (5) of Code Section 47-17-1 may claim service as a peace officer prior to such member's joining the fund without regard to such five-year limitation if such member complies with subsection (c) of Code Section 47-17-44.   A member who is determined by the board to be in good standing and who enlists in or is drafted into any branch of the armed forces of the United States shall not be required to remit any funds to the board during such period of service and shall receive credit for such service, provided that such member left his work as a peace officer to enter the armed forces of the United States and returned to work as a peace officer within six months after he ceased such service and engaged in no other type work within such six-month period. Such member shall receive one year of creditable service for each year of service in the armed forces of the United States, provided that there shall be a limit of five years of credit for such service. If a member remains in the armed forces of the United States longer than five years, his membership shall be terminated at the end of such five-year period but shall be reinstated if he returns to work as a peace officer within six months after he ceases such service and if he has not engaged in any other type work within such six-month period.    (Ga. L. 1951, p. 472, § 5; Ga. L. 1956, p. 280, § 13; Ga. L. 1958, p. 341, § 9; Ga. L. 1962, p. 39, § 8; Ga. L. 1963, p. 386, § 4; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 47; Ga. L. 1984, p. 996, § 2; Ga. L. 1994, p. 776, § 4.)   Cross references.   - Creditable service not allowed for military service from which discharge was other than honorable, § 47-1-11.   JUDICIAL DECISIONS    Cited in Vandiver v. Manning, 215 Ga. 874, 114 S.E.2d 121 (1960); Carter v. Haynes, 228 Ga. 462, 186 S.E.2d 115 (1971).   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL    Narcotics agents employed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation may purchase prior service credit under the Peace Officers and Annuity Benefit Fund, pursuant to Act No. 849, passed in the 1992 General Assembly session, which amended O.C.G.A. § 47-17-44 by rewriting subsection (c). 1992 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 92-18.   RESEARCH REFERENCES   C.J.S.   - 67 C.J.S., Officers and Public Employees, § 313.