Memphis Police Department Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis lost a key but nonbinding test vote by the Memphis City Council Tuesday, Jan. 9, on her reappointment.

The vote 6-7 vote came during council committee sessions on 17 of Mayor Paul Young’s appointments to his administration.

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The full council did not vote on the nomination at its afternoon session that followed, meaning it is on the agenda for a vote at the Jan. 23 council session with most of the others on the slate of appointees.

Voting for Davis at the Tuesday committee session: Rhonda Logan, Pearl Eva Walker, Edmund Ford Sr., Yolanda Cooper-Sutton, Michalyn Easter-Thomas and Janika White.

Voting against Davis: Chairman JB Smiley Jr., Ford Canale, Jana Swearengen-Washington, Chase Carlisle, Jerri Green, Philip Spinosa and Jeff Warren.

Smiley called for the vote on Davis, diverging from the path the body took on Young’s 16 other appointees who are on the agenda for confirmation votes in two weeks.

Davis faced intense questioning from the newly seated City Council.

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The 90-minute grilling was part of the reappointment process for Davis, whom Young is recommending to continue in her role.

“All of our fates are riding on getting this right,” Young said in support of Davis.

“If we’re not getting the results we need and deserve, we’ll go another way,” he said. “But right now, I firmly believe we have the right person.”

After the vote, both Young and Davis left the council chambers. Young smiled and declined to take questions from a reporter.

He and Davis, surrounded by staff, went into a City Hall elevator.

Smiley, who was among the seven who voted against Davis, told reporters during a recess that followed the vote that it was time for a change.

“It’s my belief that it’s time to turn the page on the city of Memphis because we have a real apparent crisis. We have to do something to drive down crime,” Smiley said.

Council members were roundly critical of Davis during the questioning on a number of factors, from her leadership of the department to a 2022 gaffe when she had a city-issued handgun stolen out of her car.

“What we have continued to ask for is for a vision,” new Councilwoman Green said to Davis. “You have provided us with some bullet points around tracking repeat offenders and more DARE classes in fourth grade. Frankly, it’s not enough.”

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Green and Davis even clashed on how long they talked in a one-on-one meeting ahead of Tuesday’s first council day at City Hall.

Green said it was an hour. Davis said it was 15 minutes. When Green insisted it was 90 minutes, Davis said, “For me to talk it was about 15 minutes.” 

Walker, who voted for Davis, questioned whether Davis could overcome opposition within police department ranks.

“The rank-and-file — a lot of them, they just don’t support you. They don’t like you,” she said. “What is it you feel you can do to improve relations with the rank-and-file?”

Davis said some police officers are “not used to discipline.”

“I felt like I came here to make change and not just keep things the way they were,” she said.

Logan questioned whether Davis can “break that barrier.”

“I believe, like in any organization, everybody just cringes about any kind of change,” Davis said. “Sometimes it doesn’t come easy.”

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But some council members questioned how much she has changed the police department.

Others questioned if she really enforced police reform ordinances that Mayor Jim Strickland said in a memo as he left office last month that the city did not enforce under his instructions. 

The memo and Davis’s claim that she did enforce the ordinances — especially a ban on minor traffic violation stops by police — were a central part of the showdown in council chambers.

Davis maintained she enforced the minor traffic stop ban and that she never saw Strickland’s memo. She also said Strickland talked with her later and apologized for the memo.

When asked by Smiley if Strickland was being untruthful, Davis repeated, “I never got the letter.”

“The mayor has said one thing, and you are here defending yourself and saying another,” said Cooper-Sutton. “You have an opportunity to be honest and tell the truth. Throw whomever you’ve got to throw under the bus because right now, this is your life.”

Davis also said she didn’t create the controversial street crime unit involved in the January 2023 death of Tyre Nichols.

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But then said she added training for members of the unit and set standards under which cops would serve in the unit prior to Nichols’ death.

The SCORPION unit, which has been disbanded, is similar to a street crime unit the Atlanta Police Department had during Davis’ tenure there that was also investigated for violent abuses of its authority.

Carlisle read a transcript of Strickland praising Davis for forming SCORPION here in Memphis at a press conference at which Davis was present — noting that Davis didn’t contradict Strickland.

“Nobody came out and contradicted that was true,” he told Davis. “This mirrors the mayor’s letter at the end of the year. ... It goes south and now — ‘It’s not my responsibility.’”

“I think that’s some of the rub when you look at the hard evidence and your comments today,” Carlisle said. “They are not congruent.”

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During the grilling from the City Council, Davis grew visibly uncomfortable. Multiple times, she clutched her binder and bottle of water and made as if she wanted to leave the dais only to face further questions.

In speaking about the officers under her command, Davis said they were “not used to discipline.”

“They’re not used to various policies and procedures that can take our department to a higher level,” she said. “Change is uncomfortable to them.”

As Davis spoke, dueling signs were held behind her. Some from activists said to get rid of her. Others said to keep her.

On Tuesday, the Memphis Branch of the NAACP voted and voiced their support for Davis and many members came into the council chambers.

Reporter Samuel Hardiman contributed to this report.