Rochester mayor-elect says DeKalb police chief staying put

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Rochester Mayor-Elect Lovely Warren says the city could not lure current DeKalb County Police Chief Cedric Alexander back to New York.

Channel 2 Action News learned on Monday that Interim DeKalb County CEO Lee May will announce that Alexander will be staying with the department.

In the last couple of weeks, reports out of Rochester, N.Y. said the city's newly elected mayor had asked Alexander to return as police chief.

In a news release, Warren said she reached out to Alexander, but "it became clear we could not compete financially with an offer made by his current employer -- DeKalb County, Georgia. I believe that Dr. Alexander might have been a good choice...but his work in DeKalb is not finished."

Alexander, who was sworn in as DeKalb's police chief just last April, already served as Rochester's interim police chief in 2005.

May told Channel 2 Action News Monday that he was trying hard to keep Alexander in DeKalb County.

"I'm doing everything in my power to keep him here. Let him know the grass isn't always greener on the other side," May said.

Sources confirmed late Monday to Channel 2 investigative reporter Richard Belcher that Alexander was staying with the DeKalb County Police Department, which was expected to announced at a press conference Tuesday morning.

WSBTV