BY-NC-SA The new Oakland police chief, Anthony W. Batts, met with members of the press today at Oakland City Hall. Mayor Ron Dellums was also present. When asked why he went outside of the Bay area for his new chief, Dellums said that a top priority in the selection process was to find a new chief who understood urban communities. Batts spent seven years as Long Beach’s chief of police. During that time, Long Beach’s crime rate dropped to its lowest since 1975 and officer shootings decreased by 70 percent. Batts started as a street patrol officer in 1982 and has been in the law enforcement industry for the past 30 years.
The new Oakland chief received a B.S. degree in Law Enforcement Administration from California State University, Long Beach; a Masters in Business Management from the University of Redlands; and a Doctorate in Public Administration from the University of La Verne. Batts has also graduated from the following executive programs: FBI National Academy, Law Enforcement Command College, International Association of Chiefs of Police S.W.A.T.
At the press conference, Batts labeled six crucial issues he wants to address:
1) Budget importance
2) Crime rate
3) Review technical innovations
4) Public Trust
5) Resources
6) Geographic policy
The issues he wants to take immediate action on are decreasing the crime rate, increasing public trust, evaluating current resources, innovation, and challenging Oakland residents and the media to work closely with OPD. His strategy to get Oakland residents’ cooperation, is to go to local businesses and walk the streets of Oakland, talking to people and actually listening to them. Batts said in Long Beach he had seven advisory groups—groups that would come to meetings and represent the community’s dislikes and likes. Batts says he found this system successful and it allowed him to work closely with the different ethnic groups in the community. He wants to establish an advisory board system like the one in Long Beach for Oakland residents. He also mentioned riding with officers and really seeing what they’re up against.
Batts told reporters that in order to prepare for his initial job interview with the Oakland Police Department, he walked the streets of Oakland, stopping people and asking them what they thought of their city and police department. He discovered that Oakland was full of activists and people willing to come together to create change.
Chief Batts also surprised his audience by pulling out his Raiders cap and talking about his love for the team. He claims that he is a diehard fan and that that influenced his decision to come to Oakland. Batts went on to say that he is going to make an effort to introduce himself to youth by speaking at school assemblies and answering any questions Oakland's young people may have.
Towards the end of his remarks, Batts said that if the community continues to divide itself and its members continue to not cooperate with one another, then there is not much he can do. Let’s hope he really creates that bridge between law enforcement and Oakland’s residents.
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