Wearing many hats: Catching up with EPD’s Lieutenant over Special Investigations

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - Over the past few weeks, we’ve taken you behind the scenes of the Evansville Police Department, showing you motor patrol, the crime prevention office, and the Public Information Office.

For the final part of this series, we spoke with the Lieutenant over Special Investigations.

From legal work, to the 911 Dispatch center, and finally to EPD, Lieutenant Stacy Shirley has worn many hats, and with her position now, continues to do so.

“Actually I wanted to be an attorney, and that’s what I initially went to school for,” she recalls. “I found that basically just sitting in the office all day long, at that point in my life when I was 22-23 years old, wasn’t quite exciting enough.”

Now tasked with supervising the detectives and the sergeants over specific units, Shirley’s days are a little less action-packed than early on in her career. That’s not to say she doesn’t still get her hands dirty or stay busy.

“Being the lieutenant over special investigations, that encompasses the juvenile investigations unit, our school resource officers, auto theft and financial crimes, and domestic and sexual violence unit,” says Shirley. “I’m also the commander over the crisis negotiation team.”

In the case of a large-scale investigation or big, active scenes, she’ll still respond and work in the field.

However, her now over two-decade career has now afforded her the opportunity to take a step back and focus on doing what she loves while still having an overarching impact on the department and its investigations.

It’s a far cry from her time on motor patrol or her years with the detective’s office, but she’s carved out her own enjoyment nonetheless.

“After being on for 21 years, you know, I now kind of enjoy being behind the scenes. I’ve seen it all, done it all,” Shirley says. “Behind behind the scenes, it is a lot of paper work, and I do still enjoy that. I like to go to the meetings and be involved that way.”

“Just reviewing the detectives’ work, I still feel like I’m a little involved. So it’s still interesting,” Shirley says with a laugh.

Now two years into her new gig in special investigations, it might be easy to look down from higher up on the mountain, but Shirley says the road to where she is now wasn’t always glamorous.

“For me, it was scary in the beginning because I was young. I had no family members in law enforcement or any friends for that matter, and I did it all on my own,” she says.

Now with lots of friends in law enforcement, a fellow officer for a husband, and a few kids to boot, Shirley says things have certainly found a way to work themselves out.

“It’s a very rewarding career, and I’ve been here for 21 years and I plan on staying several more. So, I would definitely take the chance and do it all over again if I could.”

[‘The guy that stands in front of the tv,’ meet EPD’s newest Public Information Officer]

[EPD’s Third Shift Motor Patrol]

[An inside look at EPD’s Crime Prevention Office]

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