[5] Before joining the Atlanta Police Department as a patrol officer in 1995, Chief Shields worked as a stockbroker in Boston.
[7] On December 1, 2016, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announced that he had selected Shields to succeed Chief George N. Turner, who was retiring.
[8] In May 2020, amid protests in Atlanta in response to the murder of George Floyd, Shields said that the angry reaction was understandable, and that the value of the lives of black people was being diminished by police or other individuals, stating that such events were a "recurring narrative".
[10] On June 13, 2020, Shields resigned after a video went viral of an officer fatally shooting a black man, Rayshard Brooks.
[15] In June 2023, she joined Georgia-based provider of training tools for law-enforcement agencies InVeris as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).