“I met this young man when he was around 19 years old,” said retired New Orleans Police Department Lt. Ira Thomas. “… When he learned I was a police officer, he kind of latched onto me. He wanted to know everything about being a police officer.”
The man to which Thomas referred, Joseph Daughtry, was sworn in as the new Columbus Police Department chief in a ceremony Tuesday afternoon at the Municipal Complex. The city council chamber was packed with police officers and members of Daughtry’s family and took on the feel of a tent revival at times, with praying, singing and testimonials about Daughtry’s character.
“When he was a young man, he was moving around so much it worried his mother,” Thomas said. “She called me from time to time. I told her, ‘You don’t have to worry about him. He has taken on the charge of being a police officer.’”
Daughtry was hired in November at a salary of $100,000. He was formerly the chief in Natchez, a post he held for two years, and has more than 20 years of experience in law enforcement.
Cal Green, the interim chief for the Natchez Police Department, told the crowd Tuesday that Daughtry would work hard.
“They say a true leader has a servant’s heart, and he does,” Green said. “In Natchez, he worked. He went above and beyond to make things better. Whenever we had serious callouts, he was the first person there to give CPR, ride in the ambulance, whatever we needed, he provided.”
Daughtry said he needed the citizens to buy into the police department to help him do his job.
“We’ve had problems for years, and we’re not going to fix them overnight,” he said. “We’re going to have to eat this elephant one bite at a time, but we’re going to have some law enforcement in this city like you’ve never seen before. We’re coming after the criminal element, and we’re going to let them know who runs this city.”
After the ceremony Daughtry told The Dispatch he was very mindful of the problems at CPD.
“We have some equipment issues, we need vehicles, we need additional training,” he said. “The mayor and the council have committed to helping us address these issues, but it’s not going to happen overnight.”
He also said he wanted to bring in both new and experienced officers to build up the rolls.
“We’re looking for recruits who want to go to the academy as well as certified officers,” he said. “We have some certified officers who want to come back, and I want to tell everyone who left in good standing that it’s time to come home.”
In the immediate future he said he wanted to work to reconnect CPD with the community.
“I want people to know that even though I’m the new kid on the block in Columbus, I’ve been doing this for a while,” he said. “We’re going to have strong community policing. We want the community to know who their officers are, and know who their chief is.”
The department has been without a permanent chief since August 15, when former chief Fred Shelton retired. Assistant Chief Doran Johnson served as interim chief after Shelton’s exit.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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