---
title: O.C.G.A. § 35-8-20.1. Training requirements for newly appointed police chiefs and department heads; effect of failure to fulfill training requirement; waiver.
collection: code
id: 35-8-20.1
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 35-8-20.1 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/35-8-20.1
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/35-8-20.1.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/35-8-20.1/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t35-t36-ch1-59-(v27)-2025-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=66569db4_0#page=289
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
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current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Session of the General Assembly of Georgia
heading_path: LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AND AGENCIES / EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING OF PEACE OFFICERS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 35-8-20.1. Training requirements for newly appointed police chiefs and department heads; effect of failure to fulfill training requirement; waiver.

(a) Any newly appointed chief of police or department head of a law enforcement unit whose term of employment commences after June 30, 1999, shall successfully complete a minimum of 60 hours of law enforcement chief executive training at the next scheduled law enforcement chief executive training class sponsored by the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police following his or her appointment. Such training shall be in addition to the basic training required of peace officers in Code Section 35-8-9. A sworn employee acting in the capacity of a department head of a law enforcement unit for more than 60 days shall be required to attend training specified under this Code section and Code Section 35-8-20. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to any sheriff or to any head of any law enforcement unit within the office of sheriff.

(b) The training required by subsection (a) of this Code section shall be completed in sessions as selected and provided by the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police which have been recognized by the council.

(c) Reserved.

(d) The salary and travel expenses of a chief of police or department head of a law enforcement unit taking the required training shall be paid by the law enforcement unit by which he is employed.

(e) Any newly appointed chief of police or department head of a law enforcement unit who does not fulfill the training requirement of this Code section shall lose his power of arrest.

(f) Any newly appointed chief of police or department head of a law enforcement unit who satisfactorily completes the training required by subsection (a) of this Code section shall be exempted for the year in which he completes such training from the training required by subsection (a) of Code Section 35-8-20.

(g) A chief of police or head of a law enforcement department who successfully completes the training required by subsection (a) of this Code section will not be required to repeat such training if he terminates an appointment and is subsequently reappointed to the same or another department.

(h) A waiver of the requirement of training provided in this Code section may be granted by the council, in its discretion, upon the presentation of evidence by a newly appointed chief of police or department head of a law enforcement unit that he or she has served as an appointed chief of police or head of a law enforcement unit since December 31, 1992, without more than a 60 day break in service, that he or she has satisfactorily completed training or education deemed by the council to be equivalent to the training required by this Code section, or that he or she was unable to complete such training due to medical disability, providential cause, or other reason deemed sufficient by the council.

(i) Any chief of police or department head of a law enforcement unit who is exempted from the training required by subsection (a) of this Code section may choose to attend such training in lieu of the training required by Code Section 35-8-20 for any year.

## History

Code 1981, § 35-8-20.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1989, p. 1637, § 1; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1780, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 542, § 2; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1488, § 6; Ga. L. 1999, p. 777, § 4; Ga. L. 2025, p. 1029, § 35(37)/SB 153, effective July 1, 2025.

## Code Commission Notes

Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1993, “Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council” was substituted for “Peace Officer Standards and Training Council” in subsection (h).

## Amendments

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2025, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted “the council” for “the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council” in subsections (b) and (h).