City council members split on making C.J. Davis permanent chief
Interim Police Chief C.J. Davis remains interim after 11 months. (Brad Vest/Special to The Daily Memphian file)
For 11 months, Memphis’ top law enforcement official has worn the interim tag.
Memphis Police Department Interim Chief C.J. Davis had her reappointment tabled in late January when it was unclear if Mayor Paul Young had the Memphis City Council votes to reappoint her.
Young’s position on bringing Davis back before the Council has evolved. At first, he said he would not put a timetable on it.
Later in the spring, he said it would return after the city’s budget passed. The fiscal year, which began July 1, is almost half over.
On Sept. 19, he said, “We are ready when they are.”
Technically, it is up to the Council to bring her back. It takes seven votes to bring Davis’ vote off the table. Then, it takes another affirmative vote to confirm her.
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Samuel Hardiman
Samuel Hardiman is an enterprise and investigative reporter who focuses on local government and politics. He began his journalism career at the Tulsa World in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he covered business and, later, K-12 education. Hardiman came to Memphis in 2018 to join the Memphis Business Journal, covering government and economic development. He then served as the Memphis Commercial Appeal’s city hall reporter and later joined The Daily Memphian in 2023. His current work focuses on Elon Musk’s xAI, regional energy needs and how Memphis and Shelby County government spend taxpayer dollars.
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