Former Atlanta police chief Erika Shields is set to head the Louisville Metro Police Department, which was placed in the national spotlight last year following the death of Breonna Taylor.
“It is my honor to be selected for this important position at this important time,” Shields said in a statement on Wednesday.
‘I realize that there is a lot of healing that needs to happen in policing in general, and that LMPD is at a crossroads. But I think there is also an opportunity to get it right here in Louisville and create a model for others. cities to follow. ”
The announcement comes on the same day that the news that Dets. Joshua Jaynes and Myles Cosgrove were fired by the LMPD for their raid that resulted in Taylor’s death. Jaynes was not at Taylor’s apartment on the night of the raid, but secured the search warrant. Cosgrove fired the shot that killed the former EMT.
Greg Fischer, mayor of Louisville, praised Shields as a “change agent during her long career” and a “respected visionary.”
‘When she joined us as an applicant to be our head and said it was the only head job she was interested in, full of passion and with the skills and experience to achieve the improvements and reform we needed she’s the unanimous choice, “he told a news conference.
Shields said in June that she had resigned from the Atlanta police station, where she had worked for more than two decades.
The announcement comes hours after Officer Garrett Rolfe Rayshard Brooks, a black man, fatally shot in the parking lot of a Wendy restaurant. Rolfe was fired after the shooting.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in a statement at the time that Shields wanted to resign “so that the city can move forward urgently to rebuild the trust that is sorely needed in our communities.”
Shields reiterated those sentiments at Wednesday’s press conference.
“The murder of Rayshard Brooks was a tragedy. It was horrible. And what I realized was that there were several problems, even before that, but it turned out to be the murder of Rayshard. And what I realized was how the longer I stayed, I was going to be a distraction and the city needs to move forward, ‘she said.
Shields begins her new role at the LMPD on January 19th. Former LMPD assistant head Yvette Gentry will continue to serve as head in the meantime.
Gentry was brought amid a national outcry over Taylor’s death, a black woman who died during a police raid in March at her home in Louisville.
According to Fischer, the city is working with the Police Executive Research Forum, a non-profit police research organization, to find a new chief. Shields briefly addressed critics of the decision, saying she hopes people will look at her career.
“I would ask people to look at my work and see who I was, what I had achieved, what I needed from a department,” she said.
