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THE CHAMPION, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21 - 27, 2019 • PAGE 9
Lifelong DeKalb resident to assume sheriff’s role
BY ASIA ASHLEY
Asia@dekalbchamp.com
It all started with a dare.
Melody Maddox said her
daughter’s uncle dared her to try
out for the Atlanta Police Academy
in 1988, not thinking she’d make
the cut. But she did, after extensive
training and the admiration she’d
had for law enforcement came from
watching shows and movies such as
Adam-12, Jackie Brown and Sheba
Baby.
Now, more than 30 years later,
Maddox is about to start her role as
presumably DeKalb County’s first
female sheriff on Dec. 1.
DeKalb County Sheriff Jeffrey
Mann announced his retirement
Nov. 13, 13 months before his term
was slated to end. He appointed
Maddox, currently DeKalb’s chief
deputy sheriff, to be his successor.
The lifelong DeKalb County
resident, who ran for sheriff against
Mann in 2014, said making it to the
sheriff’s seat has been her greatest
accomplishment.
“Becoming sheriff has been a
passion of mine. It’s been a dream
since I stepped out in 2013 to run,”
said Maddox. “That was just a test to
be where I am today.”
She began her law enforcement
career in 1996 as a detention
technician for DeKalb County
Sheriff’s Office before moving
on to the DeKalb County Police
Department where she held several
positions over the course of 10 years.
Maddox left there to help form
the police department for Georgia
Piedmont Technical College where
she later became chief of police until
she was appointed to her current
position of DeKalb County’s chief
deputy sheriff in June 2019. She
holds a bachelor's degree from
Morris Brown College and a master's
degree from Central Michigan
University.
Her experience over the years
has shaped her into a leader who
“leads from the rear.”
“I look at it as the same model as
with your children... you don’t walk
in front and put your children behind
you, you put your children in front
because you want to see where they
are and make sure they’re OK, to
protect them in case anything should
happen,” she said. “I want to see my
team and make sure they’re OK and
have what they need.”
She said in her pending role as
sheriff, she wants to continue being
a leader in the community, while
making sure the courts, jail and
administration are running properly.
Most importantly, she said, she
wants to ensure inmates are treated
with respect and dignity.
“I want [citizens] to know that
their loved one, if they are here,
is OK. I want them to know I am
transparent,” she said. “I’ve learned
that it takes a village. We have our
own village. This jail is huge. It is a
huge responsibility here, but we have
a great team. We sympathize and we
empathize with the inmates. We put
the concern of the citizens first.”
Maddox said her vision as sheriff
is to build trust in the community by
ensuring deputies are more visible
in the community and to continue
several programs that were started
under Mann, including CHAMPS
(Choosing Healthy Activities and
Methods Promoting Safety), which
is intended to help young people
address social issues.
In her spare time, she is “nana”
to her grandchildren, teaches
women’s self-defense classes and
attends community events.
“I love meeting people. I love
touching people. I love helping
people,” said Maddox. “I love the
everyday life in law enforcement.
Everyday is different. I love the
interaction with the citizens.”
While Maddox does plan to run
for a full four-year sheriff’s term
next year, she said she plans to focus
the next few months on observing
instead of campaigning.
DeKalb County Board of
Registration & Elections has yet
to announce a date for a special
election to fill the sheriff’s position.
DeKalb officials look for next step following rejection of ethics proposal
BY KATHY MITCHELL
FREELANCE REPORTER
DeKalb voters apparently
took to heart warnings
from several observers that
proposed changes in the
structure of the county’s
Board of Ethics would not be
good for the county. A total
of 33,555 voters, 61 percent
of those participating in the
Nov. 5 election, voted “no”
to the referendum, which
was drafted in response to
a Georgia Supreme Court
ruling that all members
of the ethics board must
be appointed by elected
officials.
The DeKalb Citizens
Advocacy Council, which
before the election declared
that the proposed structure
“places the fox in the
henhouse,” has offered an
alternative solution to the
one voters rejected.
Although the question
appeared on the ballot as
“Shall the Act be approved
which revises the Board of
Ethics for DeKalb County?”
the full referendum would
have allowed the county
CEO to appoint ethics board
members and empowered
the CEO and board of
commissioners to review
and approve board of ethics
policies and procedures.
Among other provisions, it
also would have replaced the
ethics officer with a clerical,
non-legally trained ethics
administrator.
DeKalb Citizens is
recommending that DeKalb
County’s legislative
delegation adopt legislation
that addresses only the
appointment process to get
the county’s ethics board
back to a quorum. DeKalb
Citizens Chair Mary Hinkel
in a news release said, “The
best fix is a simple fix. What
gets legislation in trouble
with voters is when issues
that would best be taken
up by the Charter Review
Commission find their way
into a bill.”
In a letter to the
delegation, the county
CEO, and the county
commissioners, DeKalb
Citizens offered to work with
the delegation in creating
a straightforward bill to
address the appointment
process alone. The proposed
bill would assign the four
positions on the ethics
board that were previously
appointed by community
groups to elected officials
not under the purview of the
board of ethics.
DeKalb Citizens also
called on the delegation for
transparency in its efforts
to develop a bill, “given the
well-documented lack of
transparency that resulted in
the previous legislation.”
Among the critics of
the proposal that appeared
on the Nov. 5 ballot was
Commissioner Kathie
Gannon, who before the
election stated on her
website, “The Blueprint to
Redefine DeKalb, which I
initiated several years ago to
help our citizens determine
how they could improve
DeKalb County was very
clear about the need for an
independent, strong Board
of Ethics. Citizens from all
of DeKalb voted for that in
2015. Since that time another
former commissioner has
been indicted. We need
strong ethics as much now as
we did then. Why would we
want to slide backwards?”
Paul Root Wolpe,
director of the Emory
University Center of Ethics,
also commented before the
election, “The bottom line
is that this bill is clearly
meant to weaken and
dilute the excellent policy
passed in 2015, without
any convincing reasons to
weaken the bill. DeKalb is
slipping back to a former
posture that got it in trouble
in the first place.”
DeKalb Citizens and
others agreed that swift
action is needed in creating
an ethics board that would
meet the approval of DeKalb
residents.
State Sen. Emanuel
Jones (D - Decatur) issued
a statement following the
balloting results. “It is
clear the DeKalb County
delegation still has work to
do to produce a reasonable
solution to ethics reform in
our county. Doing nothing
is not an option, as the
Georgia Supreme Court has
already ruled that changes
to the DeKalb Board of
Ethics must take place....
Therefore, the Joint Senate
and House DeKalb County
delegation will appoint a
taskforce whose goal will
be to gather information and
provide recommendations on
legislation to be introduced
in the 2020 Legislative
Session.
Rep. Karla Drenner
(D - Avondale Estates) said,
“My colleagues and I, along
with members of the public
and DeKalb County officials,
will be working together in
the coming months to create
a new ethics policy that will
address the concerns that
were brought up during our
town hall meetings. I hope
that together we can create
impactful legislation that
everyone can support.”
