Thursday, December 27, 2012
Communities across the city will see new police leadership.
The Baltimore Police Department has announced major command staff changes heading into the New Year. "Maximizing our most valuable resource—our employees—and ensuring we have the best leadership teams in place to take on the challenges we face in 2013 is the impetus behind these moves," said Police Commissioner Anthony Batts, who was installed in his post a few months ago, in a news release. The release reads that the changes are the start of efforts to improve policing with a strategic crime focus, improve intelligence gathering and sharing and a renewed commitment to proactive policing and community engagement. According to the release, command shifts include the following:
Thursday, October 18, 2012
The full City Council will now consider the appointment of Anthony Batts as Baltimore's new police commissioner.
Anthony Batts appointment as Baltimore's next police commissioner will head to the full City Council for approval, maybe as early as next week, according to The Baltimore Sun. The executive nominations panel unanimously approved his nomination on Wednesday. Batts has already been serving as the commissioner for weeks prior to his confirmation by the council. Batts was announced as Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s choice to replace the retired Frederick H. Bealefeld III in August. Batts has previously served as the police chief in Long Beach, CA and Oakland, CA. However, his short tenure in Oakland was marred by conflict with Mayor Jean Quan. During a press conference announcing his hire Batts said he wanted police to focus on the needs of …
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Police Commissioner-designate Anthony Batts was expected to starts work on Thursday.
Police Commissioner-designate Anthony Batts has started work early, according to The Baltimore Sun. Batts, who was announced as the new commissioner last month, was originally expected to begin work on Thursday. Although he is starting work early, Batts still has to be officially confirmed by the City Council. His appointment was forwarded to the executive appointments committee on Monday night. Batts was formerly the chief of police in Long Beach, CA and Oakland, CA. He resigned his position in Oakland just after two years in October 2011 after he was unable to get along with that city’s newly elected mayor. During a news conference last month at City Hall announcing Batts as the city’s next top cop, he told reporters that he wanted to …
Friday, August 31, 2012
Readers have their say on the big news item from this week.
Kathleen C. Ambrose I'm very disconcerted with phrases like "people who look like me" and "help kids that looked like him" (Patch: New Commissioner Brushes Off Rough Oakland Tenure). Baltimore City has made great strides to stamp out racial divisiveness (although not socioeconomic bias) and I hope Batts doesn't rely on West Coast experience in this position. What works in one city may not work in another. Christian I would like seeing foot police assigned to all of the neighborhoods so that the Officers on patrol know the neighborhoods and the people who reside therein. I would like to see these officers do regular shifts in the community so that a trust can be built between the neighborhoods and the Police Department. I think that this …
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Patch gives readers a chance to sound off on a controversial topic each work.
This week Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced Anthony Batts, the former Long Beach and Oakland, CA police chief, will be the city’s new top cop. Batts had a tumultuous tenure in Oakland, but also comes highly recommended from his time in Long Beach. He has impressive academic credentials, including a doctorate in public administration from University of La Verne, and experience running two of the largest law enforcement agencies in California. Batts has said that he expects the department to be focused and disciplined. But his time as Oakland’s police chief was marred by differences with Mayor Jean Quan, which eventually resulted in his resigning that position after about two years. Batts’ appointment must still be approved by the …
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Anthony Batts, the mayor’s pick to be the city’s next police commissioner, tenure as Oakland’s police chief ended poorly.
When a reporter asked Anthony Batts about his decision to resign from the police force in Oakland, CA last October during a news conference at City Hall on Tuesday, he was quick with a joke. Pretending he didn’t hear the question, Batts put his hand to his ear and asked: "Did you say Baltimore?" Batts went on to describe his tenure in Oakland as "gift of love from me." But news reports from Northern California have raised some issues about his previous job performance that are no laughing matter. Batts' tenure in Oakland reportedly started heading south after the city laid off eighty police officers when its union refused to increase the portion its members pay toward their pension plan. After the layoffs, Batts announced the department …
Anthony Batts was officially announced as the mayor's choice to be Baltimore's next police commissioner.
Anthony Batts, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s nominee to be the next police commissioner, said his focus will be on serving the city’s communities. "I expect to have a well disciplined, focused police department. A police organization that remembers that we serve our community, and [be] clear that we are here to make their lives better," Batts said. "They’re not the enemy. They’re the people who we serve, and we will get in closer to those communities." Batts, the former police chief in Long Beach and Oakland, was officially introduced during a news conference on Tuesday at City Hall, but word leaked yesterday that he had been chosen. Batts resigned his job in Oakland in October 2011 after Oakland Mayor Jean Quan was elected. "The mayor …
Sean Tully
11:09 pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
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