2022 Georgia Code
Title 35 - Law Enforcement Officers and Agencies
Chapter 8 - Employment and Training of Peace Officers
§ 35-8-23. Basic Training Course for Communications Officers; Certification Requirements; Duties of Council; Rules and Regulations

1. As used in this Code section, the term “communications officer” means and includes any person employed by the state or a local governmental agency to receive, process, or transmit public safety information and dispatch law enforcement officers, firefighters, medical personnel, or emergency management personnel.
2. Any person employed on or after July 1, 1995, as a communications officer shall satisfactorily complete a basic training course approved by the council. Persons who are employed on July 1, 1994, shall register with the council and may be certified by voluntarily complying with the certification process. Any person who fails to comply with the registration or certification process of the council shall not perform any duties of a communications officer and may have his or her certificate sanctioned or revoked.
3. The council shall conduct administrative compliance reviews with respect to the requirements of this Code section. The council, in coordination with the Georgia Emergency Communications Authority, shall be authorized to promulgate rules and regulations to facilitate the administration and coordination of standards, certification, and compliance reviews consistent with the provisions of this Code section.
4. On and after July 1, 1998, the basic training course for communications officers shall include training in the use of telecommunications devices for the deaf (TDD’s), and no person shall on or after that date be certified by the council under this Code section unless such person has satisfactorily completed such training.
5. 1. On and after January 1, 2024, communications officers shall be required to successfully complete training in the delivery of high-quality telephone cardiopulmonary resuscitation (T-CPR) in addition to the basic training otherwise required by this Code section, and on or after that date no person shall be certified by the council under this Code section unless such person has satisfactorily completed such training; provided, however, that the requirements of this subsection shall be satisfied by any communications officer who is certified in emergency medical dispatch, as such term is defined in Code Section 38-3-181. Such training shall follow the most current evidence based nationally recognized guidelines for high-quality telephone cardiopulmonary resuscitation which incorporate recognition protocols for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and continuing education.
   2. The council shall conduct administrative compliance reviews with respect to the requirements of this subsection, including adherence by communications officers and local government agencies, and may adjust state assistance grants issued pursuant to Code Section 46-5-134.2 based on failure to comply with the requirements of this subsection.
6. By January 1, 2024, the council, in coordination with the Georgia Emergency Communications Authority, shall establish an amount of continuing education units to be annually completed by communications officers. On or after January 1, 2025, no person shall be certified by the council under this Code section unless such person has satisfactorily completed such training.

History. Code 1981, § 35-8-23 , enacted by Ga. L. 1994, p. 1355, § 2.1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1488, § 7; Ga. L. 1998, p. 540, § 1; Ga. L. 2018, p. 689, § 3-1/HB 751; Ga. L. 2022, p. 413, § 1/SB 505.

The 2018 amendment, effective January 1, 2019, inserted “the state or” in the middle of subsection (a); and inserted “, in coordination with the Georgia Emergency Communications Authority,” near the beginning of the second sentence of subsection (c). See Editor’s notes for applicability.

The 2022 amendment, effective July 1, 2022, added subsections (e) and (f).

Editor’s notes.

Ga. L. 2018, p. 689, § 4-1(b)/HB 751, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: “(b) The provisions of this Act shall not in any manner diminish, extinguish, reduce, or affect any cause of action for audits, services, or the recovery of funds from service providers which may have existed prior to January 1, 2019. Any such cause of action is expressly preserved.”