Officer Detail: Erika Shields

Assignment History

Descriptions

• Apr 28, 2026
  

  Erika Shields, daughter of Audrey and Eric Shields, grew up in rural, almost all-white, upstate Morris, New York. Shields holds a master’s degree in criminal justice from Saint Leo University in Florida, and she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in international studies from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.

  She began a career as a stockbroker, moving to Boston, and later switched to policing. In 1995, Shields, then in her late 20s, joined the Atlanta Police Department. She was appointed as chief of the Atlanta police department on December 28th, 2016.

  In a Georgia Amazon HQ Proposal, Shields’ listed priorities included reducing violent crime, focusing on repeat offenders, curbing juvenile crime and improving technology, recruitment and retention of officers. It was noted that the Atlanta Police Foundation, a public-private partnership of law enforcement and community stakeholders, raised $20 million from corporate partners and others for its “Cutting Edge, Cutting Crime” campaign. The money went towards furthering efforts made by the Atlanta Police Department to implement more security cameras, expanding technology infrastructure, supporting the At-Promise Youth Center on the Westside, a residential community for new recruits, and housing for several police officers. The public-private partnership to expand mass surveillance in Atlanta was called Operation Shield. Atlanta’s camera network grew from 17 downtown cameras to a wide net of 10,600 cameras that eventually covered all city quadrants. Genetec and Microsoft Azure power the CCTV network.

  Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange(GILEE) has trained Erika Shields. GILEE has facilitated exchanges with thousands of US-based cops who travel to occupied Palestine and train with the Israeli Occupation Forces – a body notorious for carrying out deadly, discriminatory, and genocidal campaigns against Palestinians. GILEE is one of the longest standing and most violent deadly exchanges based in the US today. For over 30 years, GILEE has quietly advanced militarized policing, mass surveillance, and escalated warfare on marginalized populations across the so called United States and Palestine.

  10 Black men were known to have been killed by Atlanta police officers while under Shields' command. Their names were Deaundre Phillips, David Darden, Dashaun Shepard, Jeremiah Perdue, D'ettrick Griffin, Jimmy Atchison, Oscar Cain, William Dion Tolbert Simpkins, Rayshard Brooks, and one other man with a name that has been withheld.

  Like police across the county, police under Shields’ command had a pattern and practice of racially profiling, using excessive force, and acting with deliberate indifference to their constitutionally protected rights. Shields failed to terminate those under her command for unconstitutional, unlawful, or otherwise improper conduct, thereby encouraging police to continue engaging in racially targeted police brutality.

  On June 12, 2020, Atlanta police officer Devin Rolfe fatally shot Rayshard Brooks in the back in a Wendy’s parking lot. Following what was later ruled a homicide, the Georgia NAACP called for Shields to resign, saying her department “continues to terrorize protesters and murder unarmed Black bodies.” Less than a day after the shooting, Shields stepped down. 

  On May 30th, before Shields' resignation, she initially earned praise for meeting face to face with protesters, empathizing with their grief and fear, and even reprimanding some of her own officers: “I’m standing here because what I saw was my people face to face with this crowd and everyone is thinking, ‘How can we use force to diffuse it,’ and I'm not having that.” But mere hours later, her department was trending on social media again—this time because officers had used tasers to force two Black college students out of their vehicle, even though they were not posing any threat.

  Following Shields’ resignation, she stayed on the city’s payroll for a while, working as a project manager on the IT side of policing — like computer-aided dispatch system that routed 911 calls; a records system that managed police reports; and upgrading the video integration center, which captured the wide net of 10,600 video feeds from across the city. 

  Shields was later contacted by the Police Executive Research Forum(PERF), which was conducting Louisville’s search for a permanent chief following the firing of Steve Conrad in June 2020. Conrad was relieved of the command of the Louisville Metro Police Department in the wake of the wake of his officers shooting and killing Breonna Taylor and David McAtee. In early January 2021, Erika Shields was named Louisville’s new police chief. Shields was Appointed to At-Large Board Member to the PERF between February 2022 and June 2023.

  On January 6th, 2021, national news of Shields’ hiring as LMPD’s new chief was muted by the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob egged on by the outgoing president. Locally, Black leaders involved in the protest movement for Black Lives Matter and against police brutality were appalled by the decision to hire Shields. On Twitter the night before Shields’ hiring was officially announced, prominent Louisville activist Hannah Drake wrote, “In Louisville we are dealing with the murder of #BreonnaTaylor. You know what my city decided to do? Hire [Erika] Shields as the new police chief. Yes, that [Erika] Shields, the police chief that resigned after the murder of Rayshard Brooks. PRAY MY DAMN STRENGTH!!”

  Attorney David Mour, who has regularly attended local demonstrations and represented several protesters who were arrested, said he took issue with the secrecy that shrouded Shields' hiring and the fact that residents did not have a say in choosing from the final candidates. "The search was done under the cloak of darkness, once again, with a department that has a horrible history of failure to respect the human and civil rights of all," Mour said.

  “Someone that already has that blood on their hands, and has left and has resigned because of that blood on their hands, and they come here, where there’s so much bloodshed, there’s so much anxiety, there’s so much pain, and they come here, where we need healing?” said Adrian Baker, a protester and student body president of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. 

  Shields continued her push for the expansion of technocratic police surveillance in Louisville. She advocated for the expansion of ShotSpotter’s funding and footprint, the “gun detection” audio surveillance system which has rebranded into SoundThinking, license plate readers, and surveillance cameras placed in “high-crime areas.” She said that she is, “a huge believer in technology, especially in the space we are in where we are so short of officers. Also, technology can afford you a level of veracity the human element doesn’t bring. It’s not opinion. It’s black and white.”

  4 men were known to have been killed by LMPD while under Shields' command. Two of the men were Black and two of the men were white. Their names are Ryan Bernal, Ivan Foster, Riley W. Stephens, and Omari Cryer.

  While LMPD’s chief of police, Shields also pushed for school resource officers(SROs) in schools to address “youth violence.” Hours after a 16-year-old student was shot and killed at a bus stop, Shields said Jefferson County Public Schools(JCPS) should put police officers in its schools.

  "We can’t sit here with our thumbs up our ass, do nothing different and think we won’t be back at this podium," proclaiming at a press conference. Without school resource officers "who are trained in identifying gang members," she said, "we are lacking critical intelligence." During the briefing, Shields said the lack of police officers in schools hampered the department's efforts because they no longer received “intel” from students about brewing conflicts in the community. 

  Councilman Anthony Piagentini echoed Shields' push for SROs, saying “they get involved in precriminal activity and get involved in gang activity and prevent violent crimes from happening, many, many times.”

  The push was despite  large-scale studies suggesting that SROs are ineffective at preventing crime, their presence damaging educational outcomes, entrenching the school-to-prison pipeline, and diminishing the life chances of already marginalized young people. JCPS saw a drop in arrests happening on campus after removing officers from schools, according to data analysis of state education data, moving from around 26 arrests for each month of school during the 2017-18 year to around 18 arrests a month in 2019-20. Black students made up around two-thirds of suspensions in JCPS in 2020, while only accounting for 36% of students.

  A JCPS board member called Shields' remarks "shameful and reprehensible” and tweeted "I am absolutely disgusted that it took @LMPD Chief Shields less than six hours to cynically use the murder of a child to push for a measure that will do nothing to improve safety and will further marginalize Black students.”

  Shields resigned nearly two years after her initial appointment, when newly-elected Mayor Craig Greenberg took office. Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel became Louisville’s police chief following Shields’ resignation. Gwinn-Villaroel also came to Louisville from the Atlanta Police Department in 2021 alongside Shields, who hired her as a deputy chief. Gwinn-Villaroel was suspended and later resigned in June 2024 over the mishandling of a sexual harassment claim against an officer.

  In June 2023, Shields joined the leadership team at InVeris, a defense and weapons training organization, as Chief Commercial Officer to lead organizational growth. The company markets its products to police and military personnel claiming that their virtual reality and augmented reality products improve split-second decision-making protecting communities. InVeris has contracts with the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security. There is no evidence supporting their claims. Clyde Tuggle, a former Coca-Cola executive, serves as CEO of InVeris, which is owned by a private equity firm – Pine Island Capital Partners. Pine Island was formed in 2018 by former CIT Group and Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain, former Goldman Sachs buyout big Phil Cooper, and Tuggle. Prior to joining Biden’s White House, Lloyd Austin and Tony Blinken were board members of Pine Island Capital Partners.

  Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan announced that he had selected Shields April 6th, 2026 to become Buffalo’s police commissioner after launching a national search in January. Ian Ott, a Ryan spokesperson, said the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation paid for the consulting services, and the Buffalo Niagara Partnership administered the $42,500 contract with Public Sector Search & Consulting. “The Wilson Foundation recognized the importance of getting the search started immediately and, as part of their broader financial commitment to the transition, they made a contribution to the Buffalo Niagara Partnership to cover the cost,” Ott said in an email. “BNP then contracted directly with Public Sector Search & Consulting on the City's behalf.”

  The search firm identified and recruited candidates, conducted initial interviews and performed background checks, among other tasks, Ott said. “They were responsible for everything leading up to the final round of interviews,” he said.

  Ott said the money would have come out of the City of Buffalo Transition and Transformation Fund, the philanthropic fund the city is in the process of establishing to pay for studies and consulting work as the city works to bring its books into balance. But the city and its partners are in the process of finalizing the paperwork for the fund. “A fund agreement still needs to be executed before the fund can operate as intended,” he said.

  Ryan announced plans to establish the fund during his successful run for mayor last year. Since Ryan was elected, some details of the plan for establishing the fund have been made public. It will be administered by the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo with promised contributions from the Community Foundation, the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation and the John R. Oishei Foundation totaling $800,000.

  The fund is modeled on a similar foundation called Invest Detroit, which has been used to pay for housing initiatives and other projects as that city worked its way back from bankruptcy. Spokespeople for both the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation and the Buffalo Niagara Partnership confirmed that they paid for and administered the search process. The Wilson Foundation did not pay Public Sector Search & Consulting directly because it does not sign contracts on projects where it does not directly oversee the process.

  “Structuring the grant in this way ensured appropriate governance, preserved independence in the search process, and aligned with standard philanthropic and compliance practices,” Wilson Foundation President and CEO David Egner said in a written statement. Buffalo Niagara Partnership Vice President of Revenue Spencer Farrell said in a statement that the partnership administered the contract but was not otherwise involved in the process.

  Ryan claimed, “Erika Shields is a proven leader with decades of experience guiding large departments through complex challenges. Her track record of reducing violent crime, getting illegal guns off the streets, and using data and technology to drive smarter policing aligns with our vision for a safer Buffalo. Just as importantly, she understands that building trust, investing in officers, and engaging the community are essential to achieving lasting public safety.” 

  In a split vote of 5-4, Shields was confirmed by the Buffalo Common Council to lead the Buffalo police department on April 28th.

  Ayes - Bollman, Nowakowski, Rivera, Feroleto, and Wyatt

  Nays - Everhart, Golombek, Halton-Pope, Scanlon

  Everhart and Halton-Pope voiced concern over intimidation and pressure to vote for Shields. Halton-Pope said in her dissenting vote, "I want to support another woman, but we don't get in positions, and we don't just support people because they're women. We don't get in positions and support them because of ethnicity. We get into positions and we support individuals because they're the best for the position. And while I do have some serious concerns about the salary and where funding is is purportedly coming from, my biggest concern is what's in the best interest of the residents that I serve."

  Her salary will be $250,000— $75,000 higher than the previous commissioner.

Links

• Morris native picked to lead Atlanta police
  Denise Richardson | The Daily Star
• Georgia Amazon HQ Proposal
  Chief Erika Shields’ priorities are to reduce violent crime, focus on repeat offenders, curb juvenile crime & improve technology, recruitment & retention of officers. The APF, a public-private partnership of law enforcement and community stakeholders, raised $20 mill from corporate partners & others for its “Cutting Edge, Cutting Crime” campaign. The funds will further efforts by the APD to implement more security cameras, expand technology infrastructure, support the At-Promise Youth Center, a residential community for new recruits, & housing for several police officers in the community. - Paxtyn Merten
• VISION SAFE ATLANTA
  Atlanta Police Foundation
• THE MICROSOFT POLICE STATE: MASS SURVEILLANCE, FACIAL RECOGNITION, AND THE AZURE CLOUD
  Michael Kwet | The Intercept
• Atlanta under surveillance
  If things go according to Operation Shields' plan, more than $50 million will be spent over the next five years to install and link 10,000 cameras across the city — roughly one for every 43 Atlantans. - MAX BLAU | CREATIVE LOAFING
• APF Dave Wilkinson email to Shields
  Checking in with (now ex) APD chief Erika Shields if she's got someone who wants to go on vacay for virtual reality training w/ israel - GORA4ORRAU
• A comprehensive report on the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange(GILEE)
  Since GILEE's inception in 1992, at least 1,600 participants have engaged in its training programs, including officers from the Atlanta Police Department. - Council on American-Islamic Relations
• GILEE Dante S. Stephensen Memorial Leadership Conversations
  The Dante S. Stephensen Memorial Leadership Conversations training series is named after GILEE Graduate (2000) and Supporter Dante S. Stephensen (1935-2020). The May 2021 featured Shields as a speaker and focused on "developing and nurturing collaborative relationships with community, addressing officer mental health by strengthening peer support programs and implementing early intervention systems." - GILEE
• Atlanta Police Host International Law Enforcement Officals
  Following visits to Israel by the Atlanta Police, the department created a Video Integration Center, collecting and monitoring footage from the city’s system of thousands of public and private 24-hour surveillance cameras. The department reported that the center is modeled after the command and control center in the Old City of Jerusalem and mimics Israeli methods to proactively monitor crime - DiMarkco Chandler | Liberty Voice
• Israel Police - משטרת ישראל stopped by the Atlanta Police Department
  "Israel Police - משטרת ישראל officials visited Atlanta for one week and immersed themselves in public safety workshops and training. Special thanks to Colonel Jihad Hassan for gifting Chief Erika Shields with a Hamsa Hand, which is said to bring its owner happiness, luck, health and good fortune." - Atlanta Police Department
• Rayshard Brooks
  A curated collection of links to reporting on the murder of Rayshard Brooks and the response compiled by The Marshall Project - The Marshall Project
• PERF Board of Directors
  Police Executive Research Forum
• 'A slap in the face': Louisville residents decry selection of Shields as next police chief
  Saying the decision was "tone deaf" and "a slap in the face," residents questioned why Mayor Greg Fischer would offer the position to Shields, who resigned from her last department on June 13, hours after an Atlanta police officer shot and killed Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man, following an altercation at a Wendy's. - Bailey Loosemore, Hayes Gardner | Louisville Courier Journal
• 5 things to know about Louisville Police Chief Erika Shields' actions in Atlanta
  Louisville named a new police chief on Jan. 6, after months of revolving leadership in the aftermath of the death of Breonna Taylor, an unarmed Black woman shot in March by Louisville police officers. - Ayana Archie | Louisville Courier Journal
• Frustrations With Mayor, LMPD Turn 'Community Conversation' Into Shouting Match
  At a church in Louisville’s South End, LMPD Chief Erika Shields got a crash course on the deep fractures of the city she now calls home. When Shields first took the mic, people booed her. One man shouted “You’re not welcome.” A community activist said, “Nothing against you, ma’am, but you worked in Atlanta. You did absolutely nothing. You failed.” - Eleanor Klibanoff | Louisville Public Media
• Critics Call Louisville's New Police Chief A 'Tone Deaf' Choice
  As Louisville residents absorbed the news that their new police chief would be a white woman who resigned from her last job over the fatal police shooting of a Black Atlanta resident, Mayor Fischer & his pick, Shields, visited the Boys and Girls Club for a photo opportunity. Fischer and Shields weaved in & out of rooms where groups of mostly Black children learned & played games. Neither Fischer nor Shields addressed those in attendance, outside of a few momentary interactions with the children. As they left the club, a trio of protestors met them, chanting, “No more photo ops.” - Amina Elahi, John Boyle | Louisville Public Media
• Louisville police would get more money for staffing, surveillance tech under proposed budget
  Organizers with the Defund LMPD Spying Collective disagree with Shields. They say ShotSpotter and other surveillance technologies have not been worth the financial and social costs in Louisville and other cities that have deployed them.  - Roberto Roldan | Louisville Public Media
• LMPD Chief continues calls for more police in JCPS
  Shields said officers are needed in schools “to be able to detect gang members, gang violence, track social media so they know when these folks are fighting.” - Jess Clark | Louisville Public Media
• Chief Shields is wrong about school resource officers. They won't stop community violence
  Shields’ suggestion that installing full-time school resource officers (SROs) in JCPS facilities will prevent violence in communities runs counter to what research has shown for decades: Serious violence is much rarer in schools than in homes and neighborhoods. Moreover, serious violence that manifests at schools tends to be spillover from conflicts that emerge outside of school. It makes little practical or fiscal sense to deploy officers in schools, diverting resources from more likely sources and sites of violence. - Joanna Paxton Federico | Courier Journal
• Louisville police chief's push for school police after bus stop shooting called 'shameful'
  JCPS board member Chris Kolb, a staunch opponent of school police, was more blunt about Shields' remarks, calling them "shameful and reprehensible." - Olivia Krauth, Mandy McLaren | Louisville Courier Journal
• She wanted a challenge, she’s found it
  “I think there is a difference between Erika Shields the spokesperson, the public figure, and Erika Shields the leader within the police department,” Roberts says. “Erika Shields the spokesperson is working really hard to align her image with that of Atlanta, which is considered to be a progressive city. But I think Erika Shields the leader within the APD did very little to change the culture of the Atlanta Police Department.” - Josh Wood | Louisville Magazine
• Louisville police chief resigns after mishandling sexual harassment claims
  Gwinn-Villaroel came to Louisville from the Atlanta Police Department in 2021 alongside former Louisville Chief Erika Shields, who hired her as a deputy chief. Gwinn-Villaroel was named the full-time chief in July 2023. - Dylon Lovan | Associated Press
• Erika Shields Joins InVeris as Chief Commercial Officer
  "InVeris, Inc., the leading provider of technology-driven training solutions for military forces, public safety agencies and commercial shooting range owners around the globe, has expanded its executive leadership team with the hire of former Atlanta and Louisville Police Chief Erika Shields as Chief Commercial Officer." - InVeris
• The school shooting industry is worth billions — and it keeps growing
  Chris Myers, a school resource officer in Daviess County, Ind., participates in an augmented reality training simulator. The simulation, run by Christian Carrillo for InVeris Training Solutions, put Myers in a realistic school shooting scenario. - Meg Anderson | KERA News
• Inside UK arms fair where firms selling weapons to Israel showcase lethal missiles
  InVeris advertises itself as the leading supplier of integrated live fire and virtual reality weapons training for law enforcement in the US. - Caolan Magee
• Potential Biden Officials’ Firm Is Promising Big Profits Off Administration Access
  “The reputations and networks of Pine Island Capital Partners’ team, both individually and collectively, will ensure exposure to a significant number of proprietary opportunities,” the company said in one SEC document. “We believe there will be increased demand in the U.S. defense market for advanced electronics, communications, sensor and detection processing and other technologies that enhance the modernization efforts of the Department of Defense’s military readiness." - David Sirota | Jacobin
• Wilson Foundation paid for search for Buffalo police commissioner
  Council President Joel Feroleto said he supports the administration’s efforts to save taxpayers money through partnerships with local charitable organizations. “Public private partnerships can be beneficial to move our community forward and I am happy to see we have this type of commitment to help us grow,” Feroleto said in a text message. - Justin Sondel | Buffalo News
• Erika Shields confirmed as Buffalo Police Commissioner following Council vote
  In a 5-4 vote Tuesday, the council approved Shields becoming the first female police commissioner in the city's history. The "no" votes came from Chris Scanlon, Zeneta Everhart, Joe Golombek, and Leah Halton-Pope. - BTPM Staff

Other videos

• Call for more traffic stops
  Erika Shields, on the new LMPD podcast, calls for more traffic stops to drive down violent crime. - Adam K. Raymond