In the United States, a sheriff is a person who is elected to make sure that the law is obeyed in a particular county.
Sheriff Melody M. Maddox was recognized for her exemplary community service on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), and in The Ivy Leaf, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. national magazine.
Women Looking Ahead news magazine featured her in its 2019 salute to Georgia’s Most Powerful and Influential Law Enforcement Officials.
Sheriff Maddox is the first woman to be elected to the Sheriff’s Office in DeKalb County and her career in Law Enforcement spans more than 20 years.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Morris Brown College. She also holds an MSA degree in General Administration from Central Michigan University and a master’s degree in African-American Ministries from the Newburgh Theological Seminary.
Throughout her 20 plus-year career in law enforcement, she gained experience with various agencies serving the metropolitan area. She began in the profession with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office and went on to serve with both the City of Atlanta Police and the DeKalb County Police Departments.
In 2008, she applied that experience to the creation of the public safety office for the rapidly expanding DeKalb Technical College – now Georgia Piedmont Technical College (GPTC).
There, she became the office’s Assistant Chief of Police and, subsequently, the college’s first female Chief of Police. She was the only woman in that position within the Technical College System of Georgia’s 22 colleges statewide.
In 2013, Sheriff Maddox decided to pursue her longtime goal as an elected official in law enforcement.
Earlier this year, Sheriff Maddox joined the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office as Chief of Administration.
