Section 35-8-2. (For effective date, see note.) Definitions

   As used in this chapter, the term:

   (1) "Applicant" means a prospective peace officer who has not commenced employment or service with a law enforcement unit.

   (2) "Candidate" means a peace officer who, having satisfied preemployment requirements, has commenced employment with a law enforcement unit but who has not satisfied the training requirement provided for in this chapter.

   (3) "Council" means the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council.

   (4) "Department head" means the chief executive or head of a state department or agency, a county, a municipality, or a railroad who is a peace officer and whose responsibilities include the supervision and assignment of one or more employees or the performance of administrative and managerial duties of a police agency or law enforcement unit. Such term does not include the Attorney General, the director of the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency, a district attorney, a solicitor-general, a county or municipal fire chief, or peace officers employed exclusively as investigators of any such offices who do not exercise any law enforcement supervisory or managerial duties. The provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to any sheriff or to any head of any law enforcement unit within the office of sheriff.

   (4.1) "Detention facility" means a municipal or county jail used for the detention of persons charged with or convicted of a felony, a misdemeanor, or a municipal or county ordinance, but shall not include a facility customarily used to hold one or more persons for a period not to exceed eight hours while any such person awaits processing, booking, court appearance, or release.

   (5) "Emergency peace officers" means any peace officers who are employed or appointed to act as peace officers during an emergency or disaster which has been so declared by the chief executive officer of the state and whose status as peace officers is intended to be temporary and for that limited purpose.

   (5.1) "Jail officer" means any person who is employed or appointed by a county or a municipality and who has the responsibility of supervising inmates who are confined in a municipal or county detention facility.

   (5.2) "Juvenile correctional facility" means a facility operated by the Department of Juvenile Justice and used for the detention of youth who are delinquent or who are alleged to be delinquent or a facility operated by the Department of Juvenile Justice used for the care, treatment, and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders.

   (5.3) "Juvenile correctional officer" means any person employed or appointed by the Department of Juvenile Justice who has the primary responsibility for the supervision and control of youth confined in its programs and facilities.

   (6) "Law enforcement support personnel" means persons, other than peace officers, whose primary employment with a law enforcement unit consists of performing functions directly related to the prevention, detection, or investigation of crime.

   (7) "Law enforcement unit" means:

      (A) Any agency, organ, or department of this state, a subdivision or municipality thereof, or a railroad whose primary functions include the enforcement of criminal or traffic laws, the preservation of public order, the protection of life and property, or the prevention, detection, or investigation of crime;

      (B) (For effective date, see note.) The Office of Permits and Enforcement of the Department of Transportation, the Department of Juvenile Justice and its institutions and facilities for the purpose of personnel who are authorized to exercise the power of arrest and who are employed or appointed by such department or institutions, and the office or section in the Department of Juvenile Justice in which persons are assigned who have been designated by the commissioner to investigate and apprehend delinquent children and any child with a pending juvenile court case alleging the child to be a child in need of services; and

      (C) The Department of Corrections, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, municipal correctional institutions employing 300 or more correctional officers, and county correctional institutions for the purpose of personnel who are authorized to exercise the power of arrest and who are employed or appointed by said department, board, or institutions.

   (8) "Peace officer" means, for purposes of this chapter only:

      (A) An agent, operative, or officer of this state, a subdivision or municipality thereof, or a railroad who, as an employee for hire or as a volunteer, is vested either expressly by law or by virtue of public employment or service with authority to enforce the criminal or traffic laws through the power of arrest and whose duties include the preservation of public order, the protection of life and property, and the prevention, detection, or investigation of crime;

      (B) (For effective date, see note.) An enforcement officer who is employed by the Department of Transportation in its Office of Permits and Enforcement and any person employed by the Department of Juvenile Justice who is designated by the commissioner to investigate and apprehend delinquent children and any child with a pending juvenile court case alleging the child to be a child in need of services;

      (B.1) (For effective date, see note.) Personnel who are authorized to exercise the power of arrest, who are employed or appointed by the Department of Juvenile Justice, and whose full-time duties include the preservation of public order, the protection of life and property, the detection of crime, or the supervision of delinquent children in the department's institutions, facilities, or programs;

      (C) Personnel who are authorized to exercise the power of arrest and who are employed or appointed by the Department of Corrections, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, municipal correctional institutions employing 300 or more correctional officers, county probation systems, and county correctional institutions; and

      (D) An administrative investigator who is an agent, operative, investigator, or officer of this state whose duties include the prevention, detection, and investigation of violations of law and the enforcement of administrative, regulatory, licensing, or certification requirements of his or her respective employing agency.
   Law enforcement support personnel are not peace officers within the meaning of this chapter, but they may be certified upon voluntarily complying with the certification provisions of this chapter.

   (9) "Retired peace officer" means a retired law enforcement officer who, prior to his or her retirement from service with the state or a subdivision or municipality thereof, was a peace officer within the meaning of such term as defined in paragraph (8) of this Code section. A retired peace officer may be certified or registered upon voluntarily complying with the certification or registration provisions of this chapter. Such term shall also mean a retired law enforcement officer who retired from service with the United States who meets all criteria as specified by the council for such classification; provided, however, that such classification shall not exempt such officer from satisfying the minimum employment and training requirements of this chapter if such officer is appointed or employed as a peace officer by the state or a subdivision or municipality thereof.

   (10) "School" means any school, college, university, academy, or training program approved by the council which offers basic law enforcement training and which consists of a combination of a course curriculum, instructors, and facilities.

   (11) "Speed detection device" means that particular device designed to measure the speed or velocity of a motor vehicle and marketed under the name "Vascar," any device designed to measure the speed or velocity of motor vehicles using the Doppler principle of radio detection and ranging and commonly marketed under the name "radar," or any similar device, including but not limited to laser, operating under the same or similar principle, which device is approved by the Department of Public Safety for the measurement of speed, including any device for the measurement of speed or velocity based upon the Doppler principle of radar or speed timing principle of laser.

Ga. L. 1970, p. 208, §§ 2, 14; Ga. L. 1975, p. 1165, §§ 2, 3, 10; Ga. L. 1976, p. 395, §§ 1-5; Ga. L. 1978, p. 992, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 1978, p. 2299, § 1; Ga. L. 1980, p. 979, § 1; Ga. L. 1981, p. 778, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 35; Ga. L. 1982, p. 2478, §§ 1, 2, 5, 6; Ga. L. 1985, p. 283, § 1; Ga. L. 1987, p. 1141, § 1; Ga. L. 1989, p. 568, § 1; Ga. L. 1993, p. 91, § 35; Ga. L. 1993, p. 966, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 1995, p. 880, § 1; Ga. L. 1995, p. 1238, § 1; Ga. L. 1996, p. 1281, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 582, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1453, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1488, §§ 2A, 2B, 7A, 7B; Ga. L. 1998, p. 128, § 35; Ga. L. 1998, p. 224, § 2; Ga. L. 1999, p. 777, §§ 2, 3; Ga. L. 2012, p. 775, § 35/HB 942; Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 4-45/HB 242.