Ed Hudson grew up in the rural area of northwest Florida around the community
of Walnut Hill. His youth was spent working on farms, toting bricks and blocks,
making mortar for his father’s masonry business, and attending Ernest Ward
School. After graduating high school in 1976, with a class of forty-one students, Ed
attended Pensacola Junior College where he received an associate of science in
law enforcement.
In 1980, Ed graduated with a bachelor of arts in criminal justice
administration from the University of West Florida and went to work with the
Century Police Department. Although small with only five police officers, he
gained a lot of experience at the CPD.
The year 1981 brought employment as a deputy at the Escambia County
Sheriff’s Department where Ed worked patrolling the highways of northern
Escambia County for the next nine years. Then in 1990, he transferred to the
narcotics unit. The experience he obtained from working high-level narcotics
cases prepared him for a job as a special agent with the Florida Department of
Law Enforcement (FDLE) starting in 1993.
Working in the Pensacola region, Ed worked a variety of cases with his
fellow FDLE agents along with agents from the DEA, ATF, U.S. Customs, and Secret
Service. These agents were among the finest men and women he has ever known.
Ed was promoted to Special Agent Supervisor in 2004, and remained in this
position until retirement on October 1, 2014. During his time in law enforcement,
Ed received numerous awards and recognition from the Escambia County Sheriff’s
Office, DEA, U.S. Secret Service, and the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern
District of Florida. In 2010, Ed also received the FDLE Contribution to Criminal
Justice Award for his part with the Methamphetamine Law Implementation Team.
Today, Ed spends his retirement gardening and fishing whenever possible.
He enjoys time with his granddaughters, especially when fishing, and with friends
if they’re going fishing. He serves his community through his church, the Walnut
Hill Baptist Church, and as a member of the Walnut Hill Ruritan Club, an
organization that lends a hand to those in need in the community.
Then he goes fishing.’
