And what's so sad is that the mayor and her flunky just won't learn....
Baltimore Police Department Commissioner Anthony W. Batts vows to reform agency - Baltimore Sun
ore Baltimore police officers likely face arrest as the result of reforms in a scandal-ridden department that requires "wholesale change," Commissioner Anthony W. Batts wrote in a wide-ranging opinion piece published in The Baltimore Sun.
"Our reform efforts will very likely see more police officers arrested," Batts wrote. "We will have more officers who are forced out because their outdated, outmoded views of policing do not match the standards the community expects and demands."
The piece was
published Friday on The Sun's website and appears in Sunday's print editions.
Baltimore police commissioner: There is a cost to reform
Anthony W. Batts
Last week I recognized 60 officers and professional staff at the 2015 Medal Day Ceremony. The valor and courage of these men and women, and a few citizen heroes, stands as a testament to the bravery and dedication of most members of the Baltimore Police Department. It reaffirmed my mission and...
Last week I recognized 60 officers and professional staff at the 2015 Medal Day Ceremony. The valor and courage of these men and women, and a few citizen heroes, stands as a testament to the bravery and dedication of most members of the Baltimore Police Department. It reaffirmed my mission and... ( Anthony W. Batts )
Batts, appointed commissioner nearly three years ago, said he inherited a department stuck in a "cycle of scandal, corruption and malfeasance" and that Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake hired him to reform the agency and rebuild community relationships.
"I will not apologize for bringing professionalism and integrity to the forefront while eliminating greed, corruption and intolerance from the rank and file," he wrote. "Policing in any environment is difficult on a good day. That does not mean we have, or should ever have, a blank check to treat the public with callous disregard."
Several observers criticized Batts for making excuses for slow progress and said he comes across as someone trying to save his job at a time when the department and its officers have been assailed for
Freddie Gray's arrest and death in late April and the handling of the ensuing unrest and spike in crime. Homicides hit a 25-year high in May, a month when officers made fewer arrests than in any other month in the past three years.
"The letter reads desperate to me, like his days are numbered," said Edward C. Jackson, a retired Baltimore police colonel who teaches at Baltimore City Community College. "It's not commanding."
Batts did not address the alleged slowdown in policing but focused on portraying his management of the department as having aggressively reformed an agency that the public viewed as "out of control" when he arrived.
"Many officers will be unhappy reading these words," Batts wrote. "Many want me to outright defend the department and say nothing is wrong with the way this organization engages in police work. For the overwhelming majority that is true.
He wrote that opponents to his strategy "will continue to fight against the reforms we are enacting" by questioning his leadership and attacking him with "innuendo, rumor and supposition" — a comment many viewed as a shot at the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, which has repeatedly criticized Batts' handling of April's unrest. FOP President Gene Ryan, whose group represents 2,300 sworn officers, did not return calls seeking comment.
But the union did issue a short response to Batts' letter on Twitter: "What can we even say to this? Continued lack of leadership and support for our members."
Looks like Baltimore is in for a hot summer.......
