Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts has been fired, according to a Wednesday press release from Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Davis will become Interim Commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department, according to the release. Batts had served as Baltimore police commissioner since 2012. The announcement about Batts comes just after a report was released by the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3 detailing the lack of structure in the Baltimore Police Department during riots in the city that followed the death of Freddie Gray, an unarmed man who died in police custody. The union “received many reports from members who were deployed to the defensive efforts, stating that they lacked basic riot equipment…
Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts has been fired, according to a Wednesday press release from Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Davis will become Interim Commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department, according to the release. Batts had served as Baltimore police commissioner since 2012.
The announcement about Batts comes just after a report was released by the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3 detailing the lack of structure in the Baltimore Police Department during riots in the city that followed the death of Freddie Gray, an unarmed man who died in police custody.
The union “received many reports from members who were deployed to the defensive efforts, stating that they lacked basic riot equipment, training, and, as events unfolded, direction from leadership,” according to the report. “The officers repeatedly expressed concern that the passive response to the civil unrest had allowed the disorder to grow into full scale rioting.”
After the report’s release, Baltimore City Councilman Edward Reisinger and Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development called for Batts to step down, according to the Baltimore Sun.
For more on the Baltimore police union’s report, go here.
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