The Morrow police chief has accused a state agency of violating his due process rights when it voted to yank his certification.

On Monday, police Chief Jeff Baker appealed the Peace Officer Standards and Training Council’s decision, which could cost him his job.

Georgia law requires every law enforcement officer be certified. A loss of certification means Baker no longer can carry a badge in Georgia.

Last month, standards and training council recommended Baker’s certification be revoked for falsifying firearms-training documents.

In an appeal filed Monday, Baker said the allegations were “vague, general and abstract.” He also said the council’s decision violated his constitutional right to due process.

“The allegations in here are totally unfounded,” said Justin Studstill, Baker’s attorney. “We’re going to vigorously defend Chief Baker.”

The standards and training council’s will review the appeal and send it to an administrative law judge, who will have the final say on Baker’s certification.

As of Monday, Baker remained chief in Morrow.

Former Morrow police Capt. Brian Byars, who formerly oversaw the department’s training, filed the complaint against the chief.

“I went to the academy and pulled copies of training records and realized that the chief was going behind me and signed off on courses he wasn’t there” for, Byars said.

The state requires officers to undergo firearms training every year. According to the POST complaint, Baker signed his name on a roster for a class he did not attend.

Baker said he mistakenly signed the roster, but had taken a separate firearms course with Byars. However, Byars said he never hosted a separate class for the chief.

The standards and training council’s also cited Baker for refusing to take a polygraph about the training.

Baker’s attorneys said the polygraph should not have even been considered because state law does not allow polygraph results to be used in criminal proceedings.

However, the allegations against Baker are not criminal and polygraphs routinely are used in administrative procedures.

Baker, who has 20 years of law enforcement experience, was named Morrow chief in February 2006. He had joined the department in 2005 as captain over the uniform patrol division.

Morrow Mayor Jim Millirons said the Peace Officer Standards and Training Council’s recommendation to yank the chief’s certification was part of a retaliation plot by the former captain.

“It’s a bunch of hocus-pocus,” Millirons said.