Shane Healey serves as the Chief of Police for the City of Opelika, Alabama. He is a proud Opelika resident and has spent the last thirty-two years working his way up through the ranks of the Opelika Police Department. Chief Healey has a wide range of experience while serving his community and has developed extensive police training programs. Chief Healey has led an initiative within the Opelika community entitled Together Opelika, which is focused on bringing the police department and community closer together by relationship building, developing better communication, and providing education to the public and his officers, all with the focus of developing trust. Chief Healey has acted as a guest lecturer and unpaid consultant to the Auburn University Food Defense group, providing security guidance to restaurants and food prep companies. He is a member of the International & Alabama Association of Chiefs of Police, the Fraternal Order of Police, and a past board member for the East Alabama Chapter of the American Red Cross. He currently serves on the board of the Curtis House, a local non-profit which provides an array of services to underprivileged neighborhoods, and Envision Opelika, which is an umbrella organization that oversees several non-profit organizations dedicated to making Opelika a better place to live. He is also a 2019 graduate of Leadership Lee County. Shane attended Auburn University & Southern Union State Community College locally before becoming an officer and completing certification with the Alabama Criminal Justice Training Center where he finished first in his class. Shane is married to Christie Ray Hill and together they have 5 children.
Shane began his career in February of 1991 as a paid informant working with the Opelika PD narcotics detectives. He then spent a few months working as a communications operator until a position opened within the patrol division. While attached to the patrol division, Shane worked as part of the traffic section, patrol section, and was selected to serve as an officer assigned to a robbery task force. In August of 1999, Shane was assigned to the investigative services division where he was tasked with working crimes against children. In December of 2000 he was promoted to the rank of Corporal and took command of the crimes against children section. After being in charge of that unit for five years, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and re-assigned as a patrol shift supervisor. He was tasked with commanding the department’s traffic homicide unit during this time. In December of 2011, Shane was selected to fill a shift commander position in patrol and was officially promoted as a watch commander Lieutenant in January of 2012. In the spring of 2014, Shane was selected to fill a vacant division commander position, taking over the Special Services Division, which was in charge of training, school resource officers, internal affairs, media liaison, legal and liability issues, recruiting and hiring, and grant management. He was officially promoted to the rank of Captain in charge of that division in May of 2014. As a Captain, Shane commanded the Special Services Division, the patrol Division (twice), and Investigative Services Division. In the summer of 2020, a new division was created that was dedicated to community outreach. Shane was selected as the first commander of this division and served in that capacity until he was selected as the new Police Chief in January of 2021. Since 2018, Shane has also written numerous expert opinions related to police use of force and proper police policies. He has been certified and testified as an expert in U.S. District Court in support of the defense of police officers.
Shane Healey serves as the Chief of Police for the City of Opelika, Alabama. He is a proud Opelika resident and has spent the last thirty-two years working his way up through the ranks of the Opelika Police Department. Chief Healey has a wide range of experience while serving his community and has developed extensive police training programs. Chief Healey has led an initiative within the Opelika community entitled Together Opelika, which is focused on bringing the police department and community closer together by relationship building, developing better communication, and providing education to the public and his officers, all with the focus of developing trust. Chief Healey has acted as a guest lecturer and unpaid consultant to the Auburn University Food Defense group, providing security guidance to restaurants and food prep companies. He is a member of the International & Alabama Association of Chiefs of Police, the Fraternal Order of Police, and a past board member for the East Alabama Chapter of the American Red Cross. He currently serves on the board of the Curtis House, a local non-profit which provides an array of services to underprivileged neighborhoods, and Envision Opelika, which is an umbrella organization that oversees several non-profit organizations dedicated to making Opelika a better place to live. He is also a 2019 graduate of Leadership Lee County. Shane attended Auburn University & Southern Union State Community College locally before becoming an officer and completing certification with the Alabama Criminal Justice Training Center where he finished first in his class. Shane is married to Christie Ray Hill and together they have 5 children.
Shane began his career in February of 1991 as a paid informant working with the Opelika PD narcotics detectives. He then spent a few months working as a communications operator until a position opened within the patrol division. While attached to the patrol division, Shane worked as part of the traffic section, patrol section, and was selected to serve as an officer assigned to a robbery task force. In August of 1999, Shane was assigned to the investigative services division where he was tasked with working crimes against children. In December of 2000 he was promoted to the rank of Corporal and took command of the crimes against children section. After being in charge of that unit for five years, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and re-assigned as a patrol shift supervisor. He was tasked with commanding the department’s traffic homicide unit during this time. In December of 2011, Shane was selected to fill a shift commander position in patrol and was officially promoted as a watch commander Lieutenant in January of 2012. In the spring of 2014, Shane was selected to fill a vacant division commander position, taking over the Special Services Division, which was in charge of training, school resource officers, internal affairs, media liaison, legal and liability issues, recruiting and hiring, and grant management. He was officially promoted to the rank of Captain in charge of that division in May of 2014. As a Captain, Shane commanded the Special Services Division, the patrol Division (twice), and Investigative Services Division. In the summer of 2020, a new division was created that was dedicated to community outreach. Shane was selected as the first commander of this division and served in that capacity until he was selected as the new Police Chief in January of 2021. Since 2018, Shane has also written numerous expert opinions related to police use of force and proper police policies. He has been certified and testified as an expert in U.S. District Court in support of the defense of police officers.
