A deputy chief with the Atlanta Police Department will be moving to North Carolina soon.
Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis accepted the job of police chief in Durham, City Manager Tom Bonfield announced Tuesday in a news release.
"Deputy Chief Davis, during the course of her 30-year career, has demonstrated a broad array of skills and experience that will serve Durham well at this time," Bonfield said.
She will start June 6.
“I am both appreciative and humbled to have been selected as the City of Durham’s new police chief,” said Davis, a native of Douglasville. “I enthusiastically look forward to working with the men and women of the Durham Police Department, to further build a culture of trust and collaboration in partnership with the citizens we serve.”
Davis was chosen among 42 candidates, through a four-month search process that included community meetings, screenings, interviews and background checks, according to the news release.
She has served as deputy police chief of strategy and special projects in Atlanta since 2014, overseeing new technology and major capital projects.
It was during her tenure that APD decided to delay the purchase of body cameras for officers. The project had been in the works for nearly a year and was estimated to cost about $2 million for 1,100 cameras.
Davis told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the Atlanta Police Department wanted to make sure it was going with a product that could be supported in the field with no issues.
“Everything we’ve done to get to this point has been very methodical to ensure that we make a prudent decision,” she said.
Davis was one of 80 women recognized for public service in 2008 by O, the Oprah Magazine's O-White House Leadership Project. Davis was selected from a pool of more than 3,000 women.
She told the magazine she has had to “work above and beyond” to deal with men not accepting her as a credible leader.
“A policewoman doesn’t get respect until she runs a robber down. But women in these roles contribute so much,” Davis told the magazine. “I’ve had experiences where my presence prevented the situation from turning into a shoot-out. And there are some things I can tell a battered woman, things that aren’t so protocol.”
About the Author
