About Dr. Davis
Former Sergeant | Community Policing Educator | Consultant
Dr. De Lacy Davis founded Black Cops Against Police Brutality in 1991 and is the author of Black Cops Against Police Brutality: A Crisis Action Plan. Most recently, Dr. Davis completed his doctoral degree examining the factors relating to police officers shooting unarmed black males. He is a retired New Jersey police sergeant who served for 20 years in the East Orange police department and commanded the Community Services Unit. Dr. Davis has received 12 Police Department Commendations and an “Expert Firearms” award. Dr. Davis is also the East Coast Representative for the National Coalition of Law Enforcement Officers for Justice, Reform and Accountability (NCLEOJ).
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Drew University; a Master of Administrative Science degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University, a Master of Public Administration and Executive Leadership from Rutgers University, and a Doctor of Education degree from Saint John Fisher College.
Dr. Davis has appeared on News One Now with Roland Martin, Nightline, C-Span, Oprah, Maury Povitch, Like It Is with Gil Noble, NBC’s “Positively Black, MSNBC, Hard Ball, Due Process, Good Day NY, The Black Experience and CBS Morning Show.
His global advocacy work includes a mission to Rome, Italy with the Under Our Wings Delegation to meet with Pope John Paul II along with parents of juveniles in America who had been executed or sentenced to life without parole in the United States. Dr. Davis has traveled to Ghana, West Africa as a guest of President John A. Kufour. He traveled to the Republic of South Africa as a NBPA Law Enforcement Delegate to establish community police training. He has traveled to Havana, Cuba on a humanitarian mission with Pastors for Peace.
He is a former instructor at the Essex County Police Academy and a New Jersey State-Certified firearms instructor. He has served as the Vice President of the Police Benevolent Association, Local #16, and the executive director of the East Orange Police Athletic League. As a member of the Transition Team for Sheriff Rochelle Bilal of Philadelphia, PA in 2019, Dr. Davis reviewed, assessed and made recommendations about the Philadelphia Sheriff Departments operations. He served on former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey’s Transition Team for the Department of Corrections.
In 1994, Sergeant Davis was awarded the prestigious Renault Robinson Award by the National Black Police Association, an organization that boasts over 40,000 members nationwide. Dr. Davis has served as the Northeast Region President of the National Black Police Association (1996-2000). He served as the organization’s International Council Representative servicing Bermuda, Canada, Jamaica and England.
“We are all blessed to have Brother DeLacy Davis share his “Crisis Action Plan” with us so that people of color will have a road map to know what to do when faced with the inhumane act of police brutality.”
– Martin Luther King III
President, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)