Capt. Shawn Davis has been appointed Pine Bluff’s next police chief.
The city announced Monday night Davis’ appointment will take effect Jan. 1. He will formally be sworn in at 11:30 a.m. Jan. 2 at the Prince Hall Grand Lodge, 2906 E. Harding Ave.
Davis has worked in the Pine Bluff Police Department since 2002, according to a news release, serving “in a variety of leadership and operational roles” within the Patrol, Detective, Vice and Narcotics, Quality of Life, and Special Operations and Traffic divisions.
“Throughout his career, Davis has demonstrated a strong commitment to proactive policing, conflict resolution, modern law enforcement strategies and the highest ethical standards,” according to the news release.
Davis is Pine Bluff’s first permanent hire for police chief since the firing of Denise Richardson on March 24. Davis was not available for comment, Mayor Vivian Flowers said, explaining he was taking time to be with family before beginning his new position.
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Flowers said more than two dozen applied for the position, and Davis emerged from a final group of four candidates, whom she declined to name publicly.
“I appointed a pretty strong and experienced search committee, so the process rested with them in terms of making decisions about finalists,” Flowers said. “There was a rubric, and there were meetings and interviews, so I can tell you there was a predefined and fair process. I did sit in on the interviews and subsequently had individual finalist interviews.”
Flowers added she deviated from the initial interview process by engaging members of the PBPD’s rank and file, including patrol officers, supervisors and other department leaders except for command.
“I held two separate meetings to meet with those who wished to attend,” she said. “So, it was a very full, comprehensive process that engaged the perspective and involvement of several different groups across the spectrum.”
Interim Police Chief Shirley Warrior will return to rank of deputy chief when Davis is officially promoted, Flowers said. Warrior led the PBPD during a time when the city saw a marked decrease in homicides and led efforts to keep citizens informed about unsolved homicides, missing persons and recent shootings.
Pine Bluff has recorded 11 homicides in 2025, with the most recent happening Sept. 23. The city saw 18 homicides in 2024, with the last occurring Dec. 21 of that year.
“In terms of the job Interim Chief Warrior did, she was stellar on a number of fronts,” Flowers said. “In almost a year’s time, the kinds of milestones that she was able to enact were amazing and beneficial for the city in so many ways, and I appreciate her so much, and I’m looking super-forward to working with her and Chief Davis to regenerate and strengthen the service division, which is what she was done for much of her career with great outcomes. We want to bring a lot of those programs back, and GVI (Group Violence Intervention) will be under her leadership, which we also know has been critical to the gains or improvements we’ve seen, specifically with juvenile homicides, which we have gotten down to almost zero.”
Warrior and Flowers recently brought to the City Council an idea to restructure PBPD leadership by reorganizing its three executive leadership roles – one assistant and two deputy chiefs – and making them co-equal assistant chiefs. The ordinance was voted down last week, but Flowers vowed to bring it back to the City Council once a permanent hire was made at the suggestion of one of the council members.
Flowers said the internal candidates were supportive of the measure.
“I know it’s the best course in conjunction with the transition report, in conjunction with the meetings we held with the leadership in the patrol officers,” she said. “It just makes sense, and we were going to be able to save $94,000.”
Flowers said she pledges to name a permanent fire chief before Jan. 1 and include that person’s swearing in as part of Davis’ ceremony. Randy Compton has served as the interim fire chief since April 7, taking over for the retired Shauwn Howell.
This story has been updated with the location of the swearing-in ceremony.