Former Atlanta police Chief Erika Shields is stepping down from her position at the helm Louisville’s police department early next year, the city’s mayor-elect said.
Shields, who was highly respected during her time in Atlanta, is leaving less than two years after taking over at the Louisville Metro Police Department during a turbulent time for the agency. She became Louisville’s chief in January 2021 following a tumultuous summer of protests and intense scrutiny over the department’s handling of Breonna Taylor’s death.
Louisville Mayor-elect Craig Greenberg said he spoke with Shields, who offered to step down when his term begins, giving him the opportunity to conduct a national search for her replacement. Greenberg said he would accept her resignation when he takes office on Jan. 2.
Shields will remain with the department through Feb. 28 to assist in the transition.
“The search for a new police chief will begin immediately and we will consider all applicants,” said Greenberg, a Democrat who won the mayor’s race earlier this month. He plans to name an interim chief by the end of the year.
Crime was a central issue in Louisville’s mayoral race, and Greenberg himself became a victim on Valentine’s Day when an activist allegedly entered his campaign headquarters and opened fire into a room of five people.
Nobody was injured, but one shot tore a hole through Greenberg’s sweater, The Courier-Journal reported.
Shields was the fourth chief to lead Louisville’s department after Taylor was fatally shot during a March 2020 police raid at her apartment. Former Chief Steve Conrad was fired and two interim chiefs served short terms in 2020.
She declined to comment Wednesday morning, saying any remarks she made about her time in Louisville or her future plans could potentially be a distraction.
The former APD chief made headlines in Atlanta earlier this year when she tried to recruit local officers to join her in Kentucky’s largest city. Louisville police put up a billboard downtown featuring a photo of Shields and the message “Join us in Louisville.”
Credit: robert.andres@ajc.com
Credit: robert.andres@ajc.com
The second female and first openly gay police chief in Atlanta’s history, Shields joined the Atlanta department in 1995 and steadily worked her way up the department ladder. She served as a patrol officer, sergeant, lieutenant and major prior to her appointment to deputy chief. She became Atlanta’s chief in 2016, promising reform and vowing not to shy away from tough decisions.
Shields stepped aside as chief in June 2020, one day after the deadly police shooting of Rayshard Brooks outside a south Atlanta Wendy’s. The two officers involved were later arrested, but those charges have since been dropped.
Garrett Rolfe, the officer who killed Brooks, was fired by former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms a day after the shooting, but Shields never signed his dismissal form. Rolfe was reinstated nearly a year later after the city’s Civil Service Board determined he was not afforded his right to due process.
On Monday, the Atlanta City Council voted unanimously to pay $1 million to Brooks’ widow, settling a lawsuit brought by the 27-year-old’s family.
— The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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