Natchez board prepares for police leadership changes as chief resigns next month

NATCHEZ, Miss. – The mayor and city aldermen closed the public out of their discussions Tuesday about leadership personnel at the Natchez Police Department as they prepare for Police Chief Joseph Daughtry’s resignation next month.

Daughtry is leaving the NPD on Dec. 31 to become chief of the Columbus Police Department. Mayor Dan Gibson said he’s “very grateful” for Daughtry’s two-year service in Natchez and looks forward to him being here through December “as we work through our transition” in police leadership.

While no interim chief was publicly named by city leaders Tuesday, Gibson said there’s “capable leadership within our ranks” to oversee the NPD when Daughtry departs. The mayor pointed to NPD patrol commander Justin Jones and community services commander Cal Green, who both attended Tuesday’s meeting of the mayor and Board of Aldermen. Daughtry was not present.

He was named last week by the Columbus City Council as the CPD’s new chief at a reported salary of $100,000 a year. He starts his new job Jan. 1.

Daughtry is moving to a police department for a larger city than Natchez, which had a population of about 14,500 people, according to the 2020 census. Columbus had about 24,000.

The Natchez Board of Aldermen hired Daughtry in December 2020 as the city’s top cop with an annual salary of $75,000. He was previously Pelahatchie’s police chief.  He’s currently president of the Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police.

Prior to the Natchez board’s closed-door session Tuesday to discuss NPD personnel, Adams County Constable Willie B. Jones urged the board and mayor to pick someone currently working at the police department as the new chief. Alderman Billie Joe Frazier – also a former Natchez police officer – cited a need to have an assistant police chief as a ready replacement to lead the department.

Daughtry was among three finalists for the Columbus job and beat out an Omaha, Neb., county chief deputy sheriff and a retired Chattanooga, Tenn., assistant police chief, according to The Commercial Dispatch of Columbus.