The POST Help Desk can assist you with POST-related questions. You can reach the Help Desk by calling (770) 732-5604 or emailing helpdesk@gapost.org.

Upon completion and processing of the roster for your basic course, your certification is issued in the POST Data Gateway system.

1. Log into the POST Data Gateway.
2. Click on your Demographics page.
3. Scroll down to Officer Certifications.
4. Click on the Certification button.
   • You can print your certification, wallet card, and Executive Director letter by clicking on the button labeled Letter.

There are currently 51,365 officers employed in 1,047 agencies as of November 29, 2022.

The table below also shows employment numbers for the past three years, based on November 1st data of each year.

Go to POST Certified Academies for academy contact information and websites.

Approved applications are valid for 18 months (POST Rule 464-3-.01). A candidate may attend a basic course using the approved application from the agency or academy that attested the application. If a candidate changes agencies or academies, a new application will have to be completed.

Unless your peace officer certification is suspended or revoked by Council, your certification is valid indefinitely. Previous requirements to be re-certified every four (4) years ended on January 1, 2022, by GA POST Council vote. 

However, if your POST certification expired before that date, you will be required to complete the following courses in order to remove the expired status:

• Legal Update
• Use of Force
• De-escalation
• Community Oriented Policing
• Georgia’s Standard Qualification Course for Firearms Requalification

POST also recommends returning officers take the 16-hour GA Criminal Law course.

Once you have passed these courses and there are no other issues with your certification, GA POST Council will remove the expired status. For more information, please read the Recertification Process & Dealing with Expired Certifications document.

No. You are responsible for getting your training. Many agencies offer on-duty in-service training opportunities, but they are not required by law to do so.

Agencies are responsible for ensuring their sworn officers have the power of arrest at the time of employment and that the officers maintain it while employed. Agencies have the ability to check the career and annual training deficiencies of their employed officers in the POST Data Gateway.

Yes. If you are a POST certified officer, you can get POST training credit by submitting a copy of your completion documentation (e.g. your certificate) and the number of training hours completed (e.g. the training agenda). Use this Training Submission Cover Sheet to ensure proper processing.

You are responsible for maintaining your training records. Neither POST nor POST certified academies will have a record of all training you complete. For example, if you attend a seminar or attend out-of-state training, you are responsible for submitting the training certificates and training hours information to POST to request POST credit. 

For this reason, POST suggests you keep a folder with your certificates of completion, training transcripts, dates/hours/topics of training recorded, etc. to document your completed training. Such documentation will ensure you are in compliance with Georgia’s training requirement laws. 

You can check your POST training records at any time using the POST Data Gateway system. Please allow two weeks after you have completed a course for the POST credit to be entered on your training record. If the training is not there after two weeks, contact the course instructor. 

No. Your power of arrest is automatically lost on January 1st of the following calendar year if you do not complete your annual training. The only way to get your power of arrest restored is through a training waiver granted by the Council. You must submit a training waiver request (see the How do I…? page for instructions) and if the waiver is approved, your powers of arrest will be restored at that time. Until the waiver is granted, you have no power of arrest per OCGA 35-8-21.

Yes. Once you have registered in the POST Data Gateway and received a username and password, you will be issued an Officer Key number (Okey). Any training rosters that list your Okey and that are uploaded to the POST Data Gateway will record the credit to your training history. 

You can submit a copy of your course completion certificate and if the training meets POST requirements, it will be added to your training record. Please be sure to include your Okey on any submissions and use the Training Submission Cover Sheet.

Firearms requalification is mandated by POST Rule 464-5-.03.1, titled “Annual Firearms Training.” 

Simply stated, if you are an actively employed peace officer, you are required to requalify with your duty weapon and attend a minimum of one hour Use of Deadly Force training and a minimum of one hour De-escalation training every year. 

Failure to comply with this rule will result in your loss of power of arrest.

POST sets minimum standards for training and agencies are encouraged to exceed those minimum standards (O.C.G.A. 35-8-16). The minimum course of fire is the Georgia Semi-Auto Pistol Qualification Course (GSAC) which is the standard established in the basic law enforcement training course.  

Below is the course of fire for Basic Mandate Training and annual pistol requalification. Please note that beginning January 1, 2021, all basic mandate students must qualify using the GSAC 2021 qualification course. On December 9, 2020, POST Council authorized agencies to use either the GSAC 2021 or the GSAC 2005 course of fire for annual pistol requalification.

GSAC 2021 Course of Fire

GSAC 2005 Alternate Course of Fire for Annual Re-qualification

No, as long as an agency’s course of fire meets or exceeds the standard established by this rule then they are in compliance. Some agencies who qualify several times a year shoot the GSAC at one of the qualification times and other courses of fire the rest of the year.

Each agency should consider its exposure to liability if it does not act to remove an officer who has failed to qualify from active service until such time as compliance with this requirement has been demonstrated.

The loss of the officer’s power of arrest does not, however, occur unless the officer fails to comply with the requirements of the Annual Firearms Training rule by December 31 of the current calendar year.

POST DOES NOT recommend that any agency permit an officer who is unable to meet the requirement of Annual Firearms Training Rule be allowed to carry a firearm until such time as they have demonstrated compliance with the requirements of the Rule.

O.C.G.A. 35-8-21 provides that the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council may, in its discretion, grant an officer a waiver of the requirement of annual training set forth in that Code Section.

Please be aware, however, that if an officer has a medical condition that prohibits him or her from performing the duties of a peace officer and this condition is expected to last more than 180 days, POST rule 464-3-.09 may require POST Council to take action against the officer’s certification(s) as set out in the relevant law or rules.

A copy of the aforementioned law and/or rule may be found on the Council Rules page.

* If all qualifications occur at same time as handgun qualification they may all be entered under the Firearms Qualification Code. Since all officers must qualify with their primary handgun, calculations on the dashboard in the POST Data Gateway will be based on the “Firearms Qualification” code.

Student credit hours will be equivalent to the number of clock hours of training provided. There is no maximum number of hours assigned to each topic (e.g. Firearms Requalification: 4 hours). The minimum number of required hours established by the Rule is one hour for firearms requalification, one hour for Use of Deadly Force and one hour for De-escalation.

No. This rule only requires those actively employed as a peace officer to comply annually.

With the POST Rule on Firearms Requalification, retired officers may elect to comply with the provisions of POST rule 464-5-.03.1 and thus meet the provisions of USC 18-44-926C (c)(5) which states that “during the most recent 12-month period, has met, at the expense of the individual, the State’s standards for training and qualification for active law enforcement officers to carry firearms.” 

Please note that there are other provisions that a retired officer must meet in order to comply with this code section, such as: years of service, identification, etc. Since H.R. 218 is federal legislation, it is not an issue directly addressed by POST rule 464-5-.03.1. 

Thus, individuals seeking authorization under that provision of federal law should acquaint themselves with the law and its requirements.

More information can be found on the Retired Credentials page.

The Annual Firearms Qualification for Retired Officers (HR218) form, completed by a POST certified firearms instructor, must document the successful completion of the Use of Deadly Force and De-escalation classroom training and firearms requalification. The retired officer must then complete the remaining portion of the form and submit it to POST. Once received, POST will issue a certificate demonstrating the retired officer’s compliance with 18 USC 926C(c)(5).

More information can be found on the Retired Credentials page.

Any POST certified firearms instructor may conduct the firearms requalification. Use of Deadly Force, De-escalation, and related agency policy training can be provided by a POST certified General instructor or firearms instructor.

No. It would be unethical for an instructor to score themselves in a demonstration of proficiency such as firearms. Firearms instructors should do one of the following:

• get requalified by another firearms instructor in the area,
• get requalified when another agency conducts firearms qualifications, requalify with a regional or local academy during firearms training in the basic mandate course, or
• contact the Public Safety Training Center for requalification options.

Below are the minimum scores required for satisfying O.C.G.A § 35-8-8 regarding completion of the POST entrance examination.

*Score is used for evaluation purposes only and does not determine whether a candidate successfully passes the exam. Persons attending a BLECT at one of the Technical Colleges in Georgia are required to achieve this minimum score.