Chief Shane Crooks started his career in law enforcement in 1997 with the Saratoga County Sheriff’s office as a part time corrections officer. He graduated with honors with an Associate’s degree in Criminal Justice from SUNY Adirondack and received his Bachelor’s degree from Empire State College. In September of 1998, he was hired full time as a Saratoga County Deputy Sheriff Patrolman. During his time with the Sheriff’s department Lieutenant Crooks was assigned to the sheriff department’s dive team, navigation patrol, and taught boater safety classes for the department. He had the opportunity to work patrol on all three shifts and was assigned to the traffic unit for a year. During his time with the department he became a certified general topics instructor, teaching at the Zone Five Law Enforcement Academy and was also assigned to be a field training officer.
Chief Crooks transferred to the City of Saratoga Springs in January of 2004. He was promoted to the rank of investigator in August 2006 and assigned to the Criminal Investigations unit. During that time he investigated numerous felony complaints and received the 2009 officer of the year award. He was promoted to the rank of patrol sergeant in February 2009. He had the opportunity to work as a patrol sergeant on all three shifts. In March 2014 he was promoted to the sergeant in charge of the Criminal Investigations Unit. He supervised the criminal investigations unit which handles all major felonies including burglaries and sex crimes. As the CIU supervisor he was responsible for overseeing the sex offender management and was the ICAC, internet crimes against children supervisor. In September 2015 he was promoted to the rank of patrol lieutenant.
Chief Crooks has served as an instructor for the department’s active shooter force on force training. He also has brought that training out to the schools and local business, conducting demonstrations and safety inspections. He has also been the department’s liaison with Special Olympics, participating in and organizing the volunteers for events such as the Special Olympics Torch run, Law and Orders and Cops on top. He has also received numerous departmental awards and letters of commendation throughout his career. Chief Crooks and his wife Kiley have two children.