Durham Police Chief Cerelyn ‘CJ’ Davis takes top Memphis law enforcement job

Durham Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis will leave the Bull City to become the top cop in Memphis, Tennessee, a city with just over two times as many people as Durham but four times as many officers.

“She’s the right person to lead this department here in Memphis. She has an outstanding career in law enforcement, as an officer and as a leader,” Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland announced Monday. “She has a strategic vision for reducing violent crime.”

Davis, one of eight finalists for the Memphis job, has been Durham’s chief for five years. Her exit will follow a year of record gun violence in the city.

A total of 318 people were shot in Durham in 2020, a nearly 70% increase over the 189 people shot in 2019, and the most people shot since at least 2016, when the department began tracking the data, The News & Observer has reported.

The Durham Police Department cleared only a quarter of the gun-related homicides and less than a tenth of the reported shooting incidents last year. The national average for murder clearance rates has been between 59% and 63% in recent years, The N&O reported.

In a recorded interview released with Strickland’s announcement, Davis referenced gun violence in both cities.

“I want the citizens of Memphis to know that I understand the plight that we all face with gun violence and various types of violent crimes,” Davis said. “Not just here in the City of Memphis. But last year was just a devastating year for police agencies around the country.”

Davis’ resignation will become effective June 11, Durham City Manager Wanda Page said in a news release.

Policing strategies debated

Davis departs as city leaders debate alternatives to traditional policing, including a violence prevention team, Bull City United, run by the Durham County Department of Public Health.

Two years ago Davis sought to add 72 officers to the department over three years. The request was scaled back to 18 officers for the 2019-20 fiscal year, which the Durham City Council rejected in a 4-3 vote, The N&O reported.

The council rejected a compromise of nine officers offered by Mayor Steve Schewel, also by a 4-3 vote.

The DPD had 547 sworn officers, about average for a city its size, according to 2016 FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data, Governing magazine reported.

Memphis has a population just over two times Durham’s, but it has about 2,100 police officers, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported.

Schewel said Davis, who came to Durham after decades in the Atlanta Police Department, restored public trust in the police.

After the death of George Floyd, her department took a non-confrontational approach toward protesters during last summer’s demonstrations, which were mostly peaceful in Durham, he said.

On gun violence, she focused officers on the city’s most violent offenders, leading to less over-policing in communities of color, he said.

Davis also expanded the city’s U-visa program, which grants temporary legal status to unauthorized immigrants who are victims of a crime, so they can assist investigators, he said.

In 2020, Davis told members of a Senate committee in Washington, D.C., to “reimagine” policing. Speaking as president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, she recommended banning chokeholds and creating a national officer-misconduct database, The N&O reported.

In November, the day after a vigil for a 15-year-old boy killed in a drive-by shooting, Davis said Durham officials and community members must work together to address social issues affecting crime.

“It can’t be just the police department,” she said at a news conference. “You can’t arrest crime away.”

City leadership rejects police requests

Some Durham residents and political leaders said they weren’t surprised that Davis is leaving.

Jacqueline Wagstaff, a former Durham City Council member, said she respected Davis and understood why “her foot is out the door.”

“I just feel like she was never really allowed to do the things that she had wanted to do,” Wagstaff said.

Davis met opposition from the City Council on multiple occasions last year as she asked for additional resources.

Davis asked the city for $626,910 in September to replace the police department’s aging stockpile of tasers. She told council members half of the force’s 450 tasers were unusable, and 72 of the tasers used by officers had exceeded or would soon exceed their shelf life, The N&O reported.

A majority of the council asked to delay her request. Mayor Pro Tem Jillian Johnson questioned the tool’s effectiveness, citing research by the Durham Beyond Policing coalition. Since then, a request for new tasers has not come up at Durham City Hall.

“I have no idea what went through her head, but I could have imagined what would have happened in my head if if I had made a request for something that I thought was routine and had to go through that,” said Reginald Hildebrand, a Durham resident and retired history professor who follows City Council meetings.

“I don’t know if that has anything to do with her decision to leave, but it couldn’t have been something that would have encouraged her to stay,” he added.

Davis also spoke to city leaders in September to express support for Shotspotter, a gunshot detection system that City Council member Mark-Anthony Middleton had pushed Durham to adopt.

The company had offered Durham a free six-month trial period, which the council rejected, The N&O reported.

At his news conference Monday, Schewel said any City Council is not going to support everything a police chief wants.

“Council majority holds sway, and that was the decision people made,” Schewel said, regarding Shotspotter. “There are always going to be things like that, but by and large, we gave the chief, the whole council gave the chief tremendous authority.”

Shotspotter was in the national news last week. The Chicago Police Department had responded to a recording of gunfire picked up by the technology when officers chased and one fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo in March, The Washington Post reported.

Triangle cities look for new police chiefs

Two of the Triangle’s largest cities are now looking for new police chiefs.

Page anticipates it will take about two to four months for Durham to find a replacement.

“The community will be kept informed and involved during the process,” she said Monday.

Raleigh is currently searching for someone to head the city’s police department, following Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown’s retirement on June 30, The N&O reported.

This story was originally published April 19, 2021 at 10:51 AM with the headline "Durham Police Chief Cerelyn ‘CJ’ Davis takes top Memphis law enforcement job."