EXCLUSIVE: Former CSI: Crime Scenes Investigation star Jorja Fox is returning to CBS and reuniting with former CSI executive producer Carol Mendelsogn (sic) for a starring role in drama pilot Chiefs. Fox has been tapped as one of the three leads opposite Alana De La Garza and Aunjanue Ellis in the pilot from Mendelsohn and David Hudgins.

Written by Hudgins and directed by Zetna Fuentes, Chiefs explores the professional and personal lives of three driven, successful but very different women (De La Garza, Ellis, Fox) who are each Chiefs of Police of their own precincts in L.A. County.

Fox will play Vicky, the Santa Monica Chief of Police, a role which was reworked for her. A native Texan, a cop’s cop and the newest to the job of Police Chief, she’s just been sworn in. Stubborn and uncompromising, Vicky’s a bull in a china shop. She’s tough and focused — the type of person you’d pick to win in a fight. The mother of a 15-year-old and happily married to a software consultant, she is devoted to her family and to her job.

Hudgins is executive producing Chiefs with Carol Mendelsohn Prods.’ Mendelsohn and Julie Weitz. The cast of the pilot also includes Michael Trucco.

CBS had been looking to bring back to the fold Fox, who starred as Sara Sidle on one of the network’s most successful drama series ever, CSI. It ran for 15 seasons and spawned a billion-dollar franchise. Fox, whose series credits also include The West Wing and ER, is repped by Gersh, Framework Entertainment and Schreck Rose.