LITTLE ROCK — A school district in Georgia has chosen the Pine Bluff police chief to run its publicsafety department.
But it was unknown Saturday whether the Pine Bluff chief will leave.
If she departs, the city of 55,085 residents will face its second police-chief search in just two years.
Brenda Davis-Jones, Pine Bluff’s police chief since 2010, was among 15 people who applied for the job of “campus police chief” of the Bibb County School District in Macon, Ga., said Edward Judie Jr., deputy superintendent of student affairs, and Donald Porter, the director of public relations.
Davis-Jones was among the finalists. A panel of school district personnel and publicsafety supervisors and officers interviewed them.
The school district’s superintendent, Romain Dallemand, then recommended hiring Davis-Jones. The School Board approved the superintendent’s recommendation July 19.
Three days later, the school district’s website posted a notice to school district parents introducing Davis-Jones, among others, as “new administrators for the 2012-2013 school year.”
Judie and Porter — the two school district officials reached Saturday — said they did not know whether Davis-Jones accepted the job offer because they were not at their offices Saturday and didn’t have access to that information at home.
Pine Bluff Mayor Carl Redus said Saturday morning that he has spoken with Davis-Jones but declined to answer questions about their conversation.
“The conversation was private between she and I,” the mayor said. “At this point, she has not given her resignation and she is still the chief.”
Davis-Jones did not return messages left throughout the day Saturday with the Pine Bluff mayor and Police Department.
Shortly before 5 p.m. Saturday, though, the Pine Bluff Police Department issued a statement from Davis-Jones that said she “has not been offered or accepted employment from the Bibb County Public School System.”
The statement added that “Davis-Jones continues to serve as the Chief of Police for the Pine Bluff Police Department.”
The statement does not say whether Davis-Jones has withdrawn from the Georgia search. She did not return a message seeking further comment Saturday evening.
Davis-Jones moved to Pine Bluff in 2010 after working for about 24 years in Georgia law enforcement.
She was the Fort Valley State University police chief from Oct. 10, 2005, to Oct. 1, 2009, when she changed jobs to work on an environmental cleanup project at the college, which is about 20 miles southeast of Macon, Ga., according to Dwayne Crew, an associate vice president at the university.
From 1986-2005, Davis-Jones worked for the Macon, Ga., Police Department, according to a resume she submitted to the Bibb County School District. She reached the rank of major and, at the time of her departure, ran the youth and intervention service division, her resume stated.
Davis-Jones’ tenure as Pine Bluff chief has, at times, been rocky this year.
In March, she survived a no-confidence vote by the Pine Bluff City Council, which deadlocked at 4-4.
Two council members had supported a no-confidence resolution against Davis-Jones, contending that the city had lost “experienced and qualified officers” and that the chief “practices favoritism,” among other concerns.
No one produced specific information about any loss of personnel or cases of favoritism at that City Council meeting.
About two weeks earlier, the South Central chapter of the Arkansas Police Benevolent Association circulated a letter to aldermen and Redus saying its members had no confidence in Davis-Jones’ ability to lead the 151-officer department, citing a lack of “consistency” with disciplinary cases.
The chapter, at the same time, urged city officials to reinstate a Civil Service Commission to deal with disciplinary issues of Pine Bluff’s uniformed employees.
The position of campus police chief in the Bibb County School District in Georgia was advertised on the school district’s website May 2.
Arkansas, Pages 16 on 07/29/2012