Batts is out!

4 thoughts on “Batts is out!”

1. So was the Greek Finance Minister, doesn't mean that there was anything wrong with how they did their job; just po'd the wrong people.

2. What turned you off about Batts? You seemed somewhat warm to him until the riots, which he didn't handle well though I appreciated that he was out on the front line. Is he getting canned because he managed to cheese off the police, or is this an ass-covering move by SRB, making him the scapegoat for her shoddy performance? I think SRB was more of the problem than Batts, but I can be persuaded otherwise.

3. Anonymous, you're trolling. This isn't the place for that.

4. Foxtrot, I didn't like Batts. I can tell you the day I turned on him: when he spoke at John Jay College (Feb 2013, I think). He was a good speaker. It was a friendly crowd. He touched all the right "reformer" bases. I times I nodded in agreement. And then at the end I realized he said almost nothing of substance. "He's nothing but a politician acting like a police officer," I thought.

   But I also didn't feel it was appropriate or my place with my limited experience (and none in management) to attack him from my desk in NYC. I may have not said anything bad about the guy till this year, but I don't think I ever said anything good about him either. Once the riots happened and his incompetence was amply demonstrated, I felt that holding my tongue was the wrong thing to do.

   Like you, I also think the mayor is perhaps the bigger part of the problem. But getting rid of Batts is a necessary (but not sufficient) part of getting policing back on track in Baltimore. And good leadership in the PD could be more important that a new mayor. NYPD does OK with a mayor police hate. The difference, I would say, is that NYC's mayor is actually doing an OK job. Despite what cops think.

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