GA Code § 35-8-6 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 35 - Law Enforcement Officers and Agencies|Chapter 8 - Employment and Training of Peace Officers|§ 35-8-6. Appointment of Executive Director of Council; Contracts for Services; Personnel; Investigators; Subpoenas; Funding; Gifts, Grants, or Donations

  The council may appoint an executive director who shall serve at the pleasure of the council. The council shall establish the compensation for the executive director.   The executive director may contract for such services as may be necessary and authorized in order to carry out the provisions of this chapter and may employ such other professional, technical, and clerical personnel deemed necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter.   The executive director is authorized to appoint certain investigators for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this chapter. The executive director and persons so appointed shall meet all employment and training requirements of this chapter as for all other peace officers and shall have all of the powers of other peace officers. Any investigator of the council shall have access to and may examine any writing, document, or other material which is deemed by the chairperson of the council to be related to the fitness of any peace officer or applicant to practice as a peace officer. The chairperson or executive director of the council may issue subpoenas to compel such access. When a subpoena is disobeyed, the council may apply to the superior court of the county where the person to whom the subpoena is issued resides for an order requiring obedience. Failure to comply with such order shall be punishable as for contempt of court.   Investigators provided for under subsection (c) of this Code section may retain their weapon and badge upon retirement pursuant to the requirements and procedures provided for under Code Section 35-1-20.   The funds necessary to carry out this chapter shall come from the funds appropriated to and available to the council and from any other available funds.   The council is authorized to accept and use gifts, grants, donations, property, both real and personal, and services for the purpose of carrying out this chapter.   Any funds, property, or services received as gifts, grants, or donations shall be kept separate and apart from any funds appropriated to the council; and the funds, property, or services so received by gifts, grants, or donations shall be the property and funds of the council and, as such, shall not lapse at the end of each fiscal year but shall remain under the control of and subject to the direction of the council for carrying out this chapter.    (Ga. L. 1970, p. 208, § 7; Ga. L. 1975, p. 1165, § 5; Ga. L. 1988, p. 483, § 1; Ga. L. 1989, p. 514, § 1; Ga. L. 2018, p. 336, § 2/HB 867.)    The 2018 amendment,  effective July 1, 2018, substituted "chairperson" for "chairman" in the third and fourth sentences of subsection (c); added subsection (d); and redesignated former subsections (d) through (f) as present subsections (e) through (g), respectively.   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   Council personnel selected and appointed with concurrence of Department of Public Safety.   - Staff, clerical, and technical assistants, and other personnel of the council are to be selected and appointed with the concurrence of the Department of Public Safety and the council, and are to serve only so long as their appointment is mutually agreeable. 1975 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 75-89.   Appointment of investigators.    - Subsection (c) of O.C.G.A. § 35-8-6, which authorizes the Executive Director of the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council to appoint investigators with the power of arrest, allows for the appointment of officers exempted from the certification requirements by the grandfathering provisions in O.C.G.A. § 35-8-10(c) whose registrations have remained in effect, and who are in compliance with their training requirements. 1989 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U89-9.    Responsibility for the proper administration of any fund received lies with the council;  as an activity of the Department of Public Safety, though, the council is subject to budgetary adjustments just as any other activity within the department. 1975 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 75-89.   RESEARCH REFERENCES   Am. Jur. 2d.   - 72 Am. Jur. 2d, States, Territories, and Dependencies, § 72.