On December 1, 2019, Chief Deputy Melody Maddox will assume the position as sheriff, making history as the first female to hold this position in DeKalb County.
What We Know:
- The sudden promotion comes from current Sheriff Jeffery Mann announcing his retirement 13 months earlier than expected. He will officially retire on Nov. 30.
- Maddox began her law enforcement career in 1988 as a police recruit for the Atlanta Police Department. While working as a recruit, she decided to enroll as a full-time student at Morris Brown College (MBC) and worked as a campus security guard for the MBC Police Department as well. Upon graduating from MBC with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology, she was offered a position with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s office. Then in May of 1997, she was sworn in as a law enforcement officer for DeKalb County Police Dept.
- The DeKalb County Board of Registration & Elections has not yet decided whether a special election for sheriff will be held ahead of the 2020 general election. Either way it tilts, Maddox along with three former law enforcement officials, intend to run for sheriff in 2020.
- Maddox, who was appointed by Mann to be chief deputy, said they share the same vision for the sheriff’s office, which oversees the county jail and security at DeKalb’s courts. “We want to get the community to be able to trust us, and know that we are here to serve the community,” Maddox said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday.
Maddox sees herself as a role model. She says “I want to show other young ladies that you too can do this”.
