CJ Davis allegedly told detectives not to investigate the husband of a colleague after images of him with underage girls were found
\nMemphis Police Chief Cerelyn \u2018CJ\u2019 Davis had been fired by her previous employer, the Atlanta Police Department, for deliberately botching a sex crimes probe involving a colleague\u2019s husband, according to local news outlet the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
\nDavis was demoted from major to lieutenant and then fired in 2008 after a city investigation found her at fault for taking \u201cno action\u201d on the case of a police sergeant\u2019s husband who ultimately pleaded guilty to a federal charge of producing child pornography.
\nTwo detectives claimed Davis had ordered them not to investigate Terrill Marion Crane after police found sexually explicit images of him with underage girls. His wife, Sgt. Tonya Crane, resigned before the department could discipline her.
\nDavis challenged her firing with Atlanta\u2019s Civil Service Board and was eventually reinstated. She spent seven more years with the department, later taking a post as police chief in Durham, North Carolina, before she was appointed Memphis\u2019 first female police chief in 2021.
\nDavis\u2019 department is in the national spotlight after the fatal beating of unarmed black motorist Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop led to the firing of the five officers involved. It recently emerged that two of those officers were hired after the department dramatically lowered its hiring standards by loosening education and experience requirements as it faced a critical manpower shortage.
\nTadarrius Bean and Demetrius Haley joined the Memphis PD in August 2020, by which time the force was no longer requiring even an associate\u2019s degree, with five years\u2019 work experience considered an acceptable substitute. The two men were fired and charged with second-degree murder on Thursday, along with three colleagues, after body camera footage of the brutal beating was released to the public.
\nThe police department has since reduced its requirements even further, dropping a physical fitness test, mandating just 24 college credit hours, and even offering waivers to applicants with felony convictions \u2014 generally considered a disqualifier for any government employment, let alone law enforcement.<\/p>\n