John started as a uniformed patrol officer in 1977, then joined the GBI as an undercover narcotics agent at Atlanta headquarters. In 1983, he transferred to coastal Georgia, where he served in criminal investigations. In 1992, John began as a task force commander, field ASAC, then SAC of both field and drug offices. His work and management experience include supervising narcotics units, drug task forces, general investigation units, major homicide investigations, major high-profile and politically sensitive investigations, and multi-jurisdictional task force creation and management.
In 2004, John served as co-chair of crisis management for GBI, alongside the FBI and the Secret Service, during the G-8 summit at Sea Island, Georgia. John retired from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as a Special Agent in Charge of the Statesboro Field Office in 2008.
In 2009, John served as a chief deputy sheriff, managing an intelligence-led policing initiative that integrated multidisciplinary layers of social and criminal justice services with patrol, investigation, and jail operations, which was recognized by the Bureau of Justice Statistics as one of the ten best practices in the Country.
John was elected to the Peace Officers’ Association of Georgia in 2011 and served as its executive director from 2014 to 2025. He created a 501 (C) 3) foundation, developed the Oral History Project in collaboration with Georgia Southern University, and authored two white papers regarding the operational realities of use of force in Georgia.
Governor Nathan Deal appointed John to the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice in 2012. He was reappointed by Governor Brian Kemp and, in 2024, appointed to the Georgia Department of Corrections Board by Governor Kemp, where he continues to serve.
John has a Bachelor of Science degree from Georgia Southern University. A Master of Science degree in strategic leadership from the University of Charleston. He is an adjunct professor at the Georgia Law Enforcement Command College graduate school at Columbus State University. John is a certified Georgia P.O.S.T. instructor and a nationally certified instructor with the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training.
John is a member of the International Law Enforcement Education and Trainers Association, the American Society of Evidence-Based Policing, the Oxford Review, the MIT Sloan Review, and the Harvard Business Review.
John is the author of six books and many national and international publications regarding criminal investigation, public safety operations, leadership, and management. He has received national awards and recognition from IACP and the BJA for operations and innovative programs. In 2014, John was selected for the State of Georgia’s Governor’s Award in Public Safety for Outstanding Contribution to Profession, and in 2025, John was selected for the Meritorious Service Award from the Peace Officers’ Association of Georgia.
John currently travels throughout the United States, lecturing for many federal, state, and local law enforcement and public safety agencies, colleges and universities, and private sector and corporate associations regarding leadership, and management, and on seminars based on his books, “The Burden of Command” and “Homicide Investigative Praxis.”
John is also the author of four novels: “Sunlight over the Marshes,” focusing on drug smuggling in coastal Georgia in the 1970s; “Darkness under the Oaks,” about organized crime in coastal Georgia, “Winds through the Pines,” about politics and corruption, and “Shadows in the Squares,” a suspenseful murder mystery.
John and his wife, Anita, have two sons: J.B. Edwards, an assistant district attorney in the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit, and Mac Edwards, the Sheriff of Evans County.
John and Anita are members of the Pittman Park United Methodist Church in Statesboro.