Memphis City Council committee votes against reappointing C.J. Davis as MPD Chief
By:
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Memphis City Council committee that heard arguments for and against keeping C.J. Davis as the Memphis Police Department’s Police Chief narrowly voted to recommend not reappointing her.
Davis went before the committee of 13 council members on Tuesday, January 6 and presented a presentation of her accomplishments and vision for MPD.
Despite newly-elected Memphis Mayor Paul Young voicing his support for Davis as police chief, the committee voted 7-6, recommending that she not be kept as Memphis’ top cop.
The final decision to reappoint her as police chief or not will be made by the full Memphis City Council.
Much of the discussion surrounding Davis’ possible reappointment centered around ordinances passed in the wake of Tyre Nichols’ death. In a letter sent during his final day in office, former Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said that he never supported the ordinances, which included no longer conducting pretextual traffic stops, and said that the ordinances were never enforced by the police department.
Memphis City Council Chairman JB Smiley started the questioning of Davis by announcing that on January 6, the day before a candlelight vigil was planned to honor the one-year mark of Nichols’ death, Tyre Nichols’ brother was pulled over by Memphis Police in a pretextual traffic stop.
Davis said that she instructed her officers to follow the ordinance, a city law in Memphis, the moment it was passed by the city council. The police chief noted, however, that some officers showed concern as the ordinance regarding pretextual traffic stops did not coincide with Tennessee state law.
In the end, Ford Canale, Chase Carlise, JB Smiley Jr., Jana Swearengen-Washington, Dr. Jeff Warren, Phil Spinosa and Jerri Green voted no, against recommending to reappoint Davis.
Michalyn Easter-Thomas, Pearl Walker, Yolanda Cooper-Sutton, Ed Ford Sr. Janika White and Rhonda Logan voted in favor of Davis.
About Post Author
