Valley mayor announces police chief candidates

Published 8:17 am Wednesday, May 26, 2021

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Valley Mayor Leonard Riley announced Monday that two candidates had applied for the city’s police chief position, which will become vacant when current chief Tommy Weldon retires Oct. 1.

Riley said Major Mike Reynolds and Lt Stacy Shirey — both currently employed by the Valley Police Department — were the candidates.

Riley formed a committee that will consist of Randall Maddux, Jimmy Gilson and Marquetta Madden to interview both candidates. Via an open record request, The Valley Times-News received the resumes submitted by both candidates.

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Major Mike Reynolds

Reynolds currently holds the position of assistant chief of Police with the Valley Police Department. According to his resume, he began his career with Valley Police Department as a patrol officer in 1988, graduating third in his class of 24 at the police academy.

Reynolds served in the United States Army and Alabama National Guard from 1983 to 2002, receiving numerous accommodations.

Reynolds has spent his entire law enforcement career with the Valley Police Department holding many positions, including field training officer, shift supervisor, criminal investigations division commander and now assistant police chief.

Lieutenant Stacy Shirey

Shirey, a Lanett High School Class of 1992 graduate, began his career with the Valley Police Department in 1998 where he served as an officer. Then, he moved into a senior prison officer role serving at a prison in the Republic of Kosovo in 2003. According to his resume, Shirey also held the position of bodyguard where he was tasked with providing protection for various state and federal dignitaries from Kosovo or individuals brought in from the U.S. State Department. He then moved to Kabul, Afghanistan where he served as an international police officer at a forward operating base in Asadabad, Afghanistan. Shirey returned to the Valley Police Department in 2009 where he was assigned to the Chambers County Drug Task Force. In 2016, Shirey was named commander of the task force unit and in 2018 was named deputy commander of the state task force.

There has been no timetable announced for the interview or selection of the next Valley police chief.