Administrative Procedure; Hearings; Review

1. Law
2. Georgia Code
3. Law Enforcement Officers and Agencies
4. Employment and Training of Peace Officers
5. Administrative Procedure; Hearings; Review

1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of this Code section, proceedings of the council in the exercise of its authority to issue any certificate or discipline any peace officer under the terms of this chapter shall be conducted in accordance with Chapter 13 of Title 50, the "Georgia Administrative Procedure Act." In all such proceedings the council shall have authority to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of any book, writing, or document upon the issuance of a subpoena therefor. In any hearing in which the fitness of a peace officer or applicant is in question, the council may exclude all persons from its deliberation of the appropriate action and may, when it deems necessary, speak to the peace officer or applicant in private. All final determinations, findings, and conclusions of the council under this chapter are final and conclusive decisions of the matters involved.
2. Proceedings for review of a final decision of the council shall be instituted by filing a petition within 30 days after the service of the final decision of the council or, if a rehearing is requested, within 30 days after the decision thereon. The petition shall be filed in the superior court of the county of residence of the petitioner.

(Code 1981, §35-8-7.2, enacted by Ga. L. 1985, p. 539, § 2.)

Code Commission notes.

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1985, "superior court" was substituted for "Superior Court" in the second sentence of subsection (b).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Judicial immunity.

- Based on the statutory scheme as to Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council's power to certify or discipline a police chief and the council's investigative powers under O.C.G.A. §§ 35-8-7.1 and35-8-7.2, and the chief's remedies under Georgia's Administrative Procedure Act, O.C.G.A. § 50-13-1 et seq., the Council's members and investigators had absolute immunity via quasi-judicial immunity, and thus, the chief's civil rights action against the Council members and investigators, alleging through 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985(3), violations of the chief's First and Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process rights, was dismissed. Evans v. Ga. Peace Officer Stds. & Training Council, F. Supp. 2d (N.D. Ga. Mar. 29, 2006).

Reversing agency decision on ground not raised before agency.

- In a proceeding wherein a trial court affirmatively granted a peace officer's reinstatement, the court held that the trial court erred by reversing the decision of the council based on grounds that were never urged before the trial court and that were not raised in the petition for judicial review or at the hearing on the petition. Ga. Peace Officer Standards and Training Council v. Hodges, 330 Ga. App. 145, 767 S.E.2d 286 (2014).

Cited in Ga. Peace Officers Stds. & Training Council v. Anderson, 290 Ga. App. 91, 658 S.E.2d 840 (2008).

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