This course is designed to provide supervisors and managers with necessary tools for enhancing the performance of the work unit. The course examines five critical areas that relate to one’s ability to be both a leader and manager. These five areas are described as “Burdens” due to the ongoing labor required to change the Commanders behaviors. These “Burdens” are taught in five modules during the course: 

• The Burden of Self awareness
• The Burden of Competence
• The Burden of Servant hood
• The Burden of Communication
• The Burden of Management 

The course focus is to understand and prepare for the position of supervisor and know how to balance the responsibilities of management with the requirements of leadership. 

Instructor Biography

John B. Edwards has over 42 years of law enforcement experience that covers general law enforcement functions at the local and state level. John has worked uniformed patrol, undercover narcotics, and criminal investigations. His management experience consists of the supervision of narcotics units, drug task forces, general investigation units, major case supervision, a jail and multi-jurisdictional task force creation and management. John started as a uniformed patrol officer, retired from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as a SAC and then served four years as a chief deputy sheriff. In 2004 John served as co-chair of crisis management for GBI with FBI and Secret Service during the G-8 summit at Sea Island Georgia. 

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 serves on various state law enforcement oversight and advisory boards. He is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the International Law Enforcement Education and Trainers Association, The American Society of Evidence-Based Policing and the Peace Officers Association of Georgia. 

John is the author of three books and many national and international publications regarding police operations, leadership, and management. He has received national awards and recognition from IACP and the BJA for operations and innovative programs and in 2014 was selected for the State of Georgia’s Governor’s Award in Public Safety for Outstanding Contribution to Profession. 

John currently travels throughout the United States lecturing for many federal, state and local agencies and law enforcement associations regarding police, jail and public safety operations, leadership and management, and conducts three-day seminars based on his book, “The Burden of Command.”