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Over three years after the untimely and tragic murder of Breonna Taylor at the hands of the Louisville Metro Police Department, the Kentucky-based city now has a Black woman police chief.
Mayor Craig Greenberg promoted Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel from interim police chief to the job’s permanent role July 20. Her new position makes her the first Black woman in the department’s history to hold the role.
“Over the past six months, Chief Gwinn-Villaroel has shown our city that she has exactly what I’m looking for in a chief and exactly what our community is looking for in a leader,” said Greenberg in a statement. “She has extensive experience in law enforcement leadership and a record of reform.”
The newly appointed public servant has 26 years of experience in law enforcement and wanted to be in the profession since kindergarten, according to WDRB.
The first 24 years of Gwinn-Villaroel’s dedication to the force were served within the Atlanta Police Department. She joined the Louisville Metro Police Department in 2021 and became interim chief in January 2023. Her move into the latter role followed former police chief Erika Shields’ resignation and Greenberg’s mayoral appointment.
Gwinn-Villaroel noted her top priorities as police chief in a mid-July announcement. They included recruiting and retaining officers, “addressing violent crime, rebuilding community trust and establishing clear guidelines on how we police.”
Greenberg called Taylor’s death a murder on social media in March, according to the Courier-Journal.
The 26-year-old ER technician was shot and killed on March 13, 2020, by Louisville Police. The authorities implemented a no-knock search warrant to do a raid on the essential worker’s apartment — where she and her boyfriend had been sleeping.
When asked whether she agreed with Greenberg’s statement about Taylor’s death, Gwinn-Villaroel told the Courier-Journal the following:
“So I cannot speak for the mayor, and I will reserve that. But the incident itself was an unfortunate incident.
We as a department have truly learned from that tragic day. And with that, comes the reforms that you’ve already reported on. … And with that comes learning from the past in order for us not to repeat it again. I’m hopeful that we’re continuing on this path to move forward within the department, but we’ll never forget that. And we understand that and but our mission right now is to make sure that we avoid those missteps that were taken.”
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