Browse Caselaw

The exception is to the judgment of the Superior Court of Fulton County sustaining the defendants' general demurrer to the petition seeking a mandamus absolute to require the defendants, as members of the Board of Commissioners of the Peace Officers Annuity and Benefit Fund of Georgia, to reinstate the plaintiff as a member of the Peace Officers Annuity and Benefit Fund. Held:

The authority of the plaintiffs to act as peace officers must be found in some public law." Board of Commissioners v. Clay, 214 Ga. 70, 73 (102 S. E. 2d 575). ". . . the specific inclusion in the peace officers act of guards and wardens clearly shows that the intent of the legislature was to exclude from the definition of 'peace officer' public employees or officers who, incidental to the primary duties of their employment, occasionally perform some of the services of a police officer. The fact that, under an ordinance of the City of Atlanta, officers of the fire department are invested with the powers of police officers and are authorized to make arrests within the city would not constitute them 'peace officers' within the meaning of the Peace Officers Annuity and Benefit Fund Act . . ." Vandiver v. Endicott, 215 Ga. 250, 252 (109 S. E. 2d 775). Similarly, the act investing the health commissioner and his deputies with police powers would not constitute them "peace officers" within the meaning of the act of 1950. Since the allegations by which the plaintiff sought to establish himself as a peace officer under this act are unsupported by any express legal authority, the trial judge did not err in sustaining the general demurrer to the petition.