Cerelyn J. Davis

Cerelyn "C.J." Davis (born ) is an American police officer who is the 13th director of police service for the Memphis Police Department. Davis is the first black woman to become the Memphis Police Department's chief. Shortly after accepting her job she required that her title be officially changed to police chief.

Early life and education Davis was born in Fort Bragg into a military family.

Davis has a degree in criminal justice from Saint Leo University. She graduated in 1998 after starting her studies at Georgia Military College;

Career

Davis joined the Atlanta Police Department in 1986. which used "aggressive crime fighting strategies in high crime areas citywide". She was demoted and then fired from the Atlanta Police Department in 2008 for her alleged involvement in a sex crimes investigation into the husband of an Atlanta police sergeant, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She was reinstated after an appeal process. In the same year O, The Oprah Magazine, named Davis as one of eighty women forming the O White House Leadership Project, Women Rule!. In 2021, she created the Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods Unit (SCORPION); which is associated with killing of Tyre Nichols. She is the Memphis Police Department's first black female chief, and is also the first female police chief of Memphis.

In January 2023, Davis described the killing of Tyre Nichols as being a "defining moment" in the Memphis Police Department's history. She terminated the employment of five police officers associated with Nichols' death.

Personal life Davis is married; she has one daughter and two grandchildren.