Closer look at Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis’s salary boost
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – With a federal investigation just getting started as well as a civil lawsuit looming, Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis is under fire – this time, for her salary.
Davis makes more than $280,000 and it’s a significant increase from her starting salary when she first started with the department two years ago. The figure makes her the highest-paid city employee.
It stemmed from a 14 percent pay increase, approved by the Memphis city council.
Memphis City Council Vice Chairman JB Smiley Jr. said it was an incentive to recruit more officers and retain current officers.
Smiley said he and his colleagues did not know Davis and her command staff would get that same boost.
“14 percent pay increase for those individuals who are receiving about $50,000 a year, that’s something completely different than someone getting a 14 percent pay increase for someone making well over six figures,” said Smiley.
“It’s my belief that every member of Memphis City Council believed the pay increase was going to those individuals who are out in the streets every day.”
In 2021, Davis’s salary was just under $235,000 according to city salary records.
In 2023, it’s up to more than $280,000.
For perspective, police recruits had a jump from about $42,000 to $54,000.
Davis also makes about $100,000 more than Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, whose salary is listed at slightly more than $170,000.
When we reached out to the city to ask about Chief Davis’s salary, a spokesperson said, ‘Chief Davis receives cost of living salary increases, just as any other public safety employee has each Fiscal Year.’
Smiley Jr. said it’s not an acceptable answer.
“A 14 percent pay increase for cost of living, I’m just going to call BS,” he said. “I think the council may take a ‘wait and see’ approach or the council may pass legislation that deals with these types of increases.”
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