Common Council committee grills mayor’s nominee Erica Shields over past protests, training and accountability

Erica Shields, the mayor’s nominee for police commissioner, defended her 25-year law-enforcement career and described plans for training, community outreach and a focus on solvability during a sometimes tense confirmation hearing before the Buffalo Common Council Committee on Civil Service on April 21, 2026.

The hearing opened with routine roll call and procedural motions before members debated item 3 on the agenda: Shields’ appointment. Shields, who said she was nominated by the mayor, summarized her career in Atlanta and Louisville and acknowledged protests and high-profile use-of-force incidents that occurred while she was a senior agency leader. “I went into the crowds with the protesters,” Shields told the committee, describing efforts to hear community concerns and manage demonstrations while emphasizing that the department must hold people accountable and improve training.

Why the nomination matters: Council members framed the hearing as both an evaluation of Shields’ technical qualifications and a test of whether she could rebuild trust across Buffalo’s diverse neighborhoods. One council member said they had conducted independent outreach to people in cities where Shields had worked and that those conversations left them uncomfortable; the member concluded they would vote against the appointment and said they would not be “intimidated” by outside pressure.

Shields’ record and resignation in Atlanta: Shields told the committee that she stepped down from her…