Who is LMPD's new permanent chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel?

When Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg announced the name of the city’s next permanent police chief on Thursday, it was a familiar one: Interim Louisville Metro Police chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel.

Here's what to know about Gwinn-Villaroel, who has served in that role since Greenberg took office and replaced former chief Erika Shields:

Gwinn-Villaroel joined LMPD in 2021, following Shields from the Atlanta Police Department, where the two women climbed the ranks in tandem starting in the late 1990s, with Shields ultimately becoming chief of that department and Gwinn-Villaroel rising to major and leading the force’s training academy.

She will continue to preside over an understaffed department that is staring down an almost certain federal consent decree following a damning Department of Justice investigation that found LMPD routinely practiced unconstitutional policing and violated the rights of Louisvillians.

It is also a department Greenberg said he wants to make the “most trained, trusted and transparent” in the country.

A close relationship with former chief Erika Shields

Speaking to Louisville Magazine in 2021, Shields said in their early years on Atlanta’s force, she and Gwinn-Villaroel worked undercover doing prostitution stings and drug busts. Shields credited Gwinn-Villaroel, who is Black and from Atlanta, with allowing her to see the world through a different lens. She also recounted Gwinn-Villaroel, who grew up in a religious household and is now an ordained pastor, preaching to women they arrested for prostitution.

The two women were extremely close — “yin and yang” according to Gwinn-Villaroel.

Shields stepped down as Atlanta’s chief in June 2020 following the killing of Rayshard Brooks in a Wendy’s parking lot, reigniting protests there. She was hired by then-Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer in January 2021, immediately receiving criticism as a result of Fischer’s secretive hiring process and the killing of Brooks.

Gwinn-Villaroel came to Louisville as deputy chief a month later, initially shuttling between Kentucky and Atlanta, where her family and congregation remained.

Later, Gwinn-Villaroel and Shields would appear on billboards in Atlanta, trying to lure their former officers north to Louisville.

Shortly after Greenberg was elected mayor in November 2022, Shields announced she would be resigning. Later, she would say she was forced to step down for “political” reasons.

Gwinn-Villaroel was sworn in on Jan. 2, the same day as Greenberg.

DOJ report, Old National Bank shooting have come during her tenure

Speaking to The Courier Journal shortly after taking over the department, Gwinn-Villaroel highlighted the need for transparency.

“We want to be transparent, and we want people to have a seat at the table,” she said. “The community needs to understand that we are a stable organization and that we’re working on being better every day.”

Just over two months into the job, she was back at downtown Louisville’s Metro Hall as U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland laid out a pattern of civil rights abuses, unconstitutional policing and discrimination by LMPD carried out in recent years.

Taking the stage after Garland, Gwinn-Villaroel said LMPD was already engaged in reform efforts and that LMPD’s officers were “committed to upholding the Constitution with honor and distinction” as the city aimed to have the “premier police department in the country.”

However, she added: “Improvement will not occur, as we’ve heard before, overnight. And will require clear goals and objectives.”

She faced another major challenge a month later when a mass shooter opened fire in a downtown Louisville bank on April 10, killing five people and injuring a number of others, including LMPD rookie Nick Wilt, who was responding to the scene.

Since she took over, Gwinn-Villaroel said she would like to stay in Louisville and was applying to be the chief. Out of 19 people who applied to be LMPD’s next chief, she is the only publicly known candidate, as the Greenberg administration refused to name finalists as other cities do.

Gwinn-Villaroel: 'Listen to what we're saying'

Speaking to Metro Councilwoman Paula McCraney on a recently recorded podcast, Gwinn-Villaroel said she had known she wanted to be a police officer since she was 5 years old. She also encouraged her officers to engage in community policing by getting out of their cars, patrolling on foot and meeting the people on their beat — and to try attending different churches on Sundays.

Asked by McCraney what advice she would give to the public about interacting with police, Gwinn-Villaroel encouraged citizens to “listen to what we’re saying” and the directions issued by police officers. Citizens not satisfied with their interactions have the right to ask for a supervisor and to file a complaint, she said.

“That’s why we have the guns that come into play,” she added. “Because again, people are not listening.”

Reach reporter Josh Wood at jwood@courier-journal.com or on Twitter @JWoodJourno

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Who is Louisville police chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel?