Ms. Shackelford holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in History at the University of Alaska Anchorage and graduated number 16 in her police academy class of 30. She obtained the Training Coordinator position for Youth Mental Health First Aid with the UAA Center for Human Development Alaska Training Cooperative in February 2015 and has been assisting more than 35 instructors deliver Youth Mental Health First Aid across Alaska.
Ms. Shackelford is a fifth-generation police officer recently retired from more than 20 years with the Anchorage Police Department; serving the last ten years as an SRO within Chugiak High School, Mirror Lake Middle School, and four Eagle River/Chugiak area elementary schools to answer police calls for service, teach DARE and other topics, and build positive relationships with students, staff, parents, and the community. Ms. Shackelford was assigned full time with the patrol division as Crisis Intervention Team (C.I.T.) Coordinator from June 1, 2013 to January 31, 2015.
She is an FBI and LAPD-trained hostage negotiator who served APD from December 1997 to January 2004. Ms. Shackelford also served as the Coordinator and lead instructor for the Anchorage Police Department’s C.I.T. program since its inception in October 2001. At the CIT training, mental health and other professionals voluntarily provide expert instruction to law enforcement/first responders during an intensive 40-hour course in which attendees are educated about mental illnesses, medications, suicide and crisis intervention, active listening skills, de-escalation techniques, empathy, and respect. The Anchorage Police Department, during Ms. Shackelford’s tenure, has conducted 15 Crisis Intervention Team academies, training 400 first responders, law enforcement, and other professionals across the State of Alaska. Since retirement, Ms. Shackelford has continued to assist the APD with CIT academies. Ms. Shackelford is currently providing technical assistance to other Alaskan communities in developing their own CIT 40-hour training courses and is the lead trainer for the Mat Su AST CIT coalition; instructing two CIT academies in the Mat Su Valley since April 2017.
Ms. Shackelford was certified by the APSC in 2006 as an instructor for the Crisis
Intervention Team and DARE and added several Mental Health First Aid modules to her instructor certification in 2015. She is also nationally certified to instruct Youth Mental Health First Aid, Adult Mental Health First Aid, MHFA for Public Safety, MHFA for EMS/Fire, and QPR Gatekeeper suicide prevention.
In addition, Ms. Shackelford is credentialed as a police chaplain and liaison officer through the International Association of Police Chaplains. She is also credentialed as a basic chaplain with the Chaplain Fellowship Ministries Inc. (CFMI) and as a Disaster Response Chaplain with the Southern Baptist Convention (January 2012).
Ms. Shackelford has continued to participate in CISD’s as a law enforcement peer and to serve individual officers in need of one-on-one peer support, with referrals to vetted professionals as necessary. Ms. Shackelford is a certified trainer in NAMI New Hampshire Connect™ Postvention and has thrice been a national presenter at the International Crisis Intervention Team Conference.
Ms. Shackelford has been a public member on the executive board of the Alaska Police Standards Council (APSC) since July 2016. She is currently the Vice Chair of the Council.