National

Police Chief Who Pledged Reforms Fired Amid Crime Spike

Published

11 years ago

July 9, 2015

In this April 30, 2015, file photo, Baltimore Police Department Commissioner Anthony Batts listens as Deputy Commissioner Kevin Davis speaks at a news conference, in Baltimore. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced the firing of Batts in a news release Wednesday, July 8. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

JULIET LINDERMAN, Associated Press

BALTIMORE (AP) — Less than three years ago, Anthony Batts was hand-picked by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to combat crime and reform a troubled law enforcement department in one of America’s most violent cities.

On Wednesday, Batts was fired as police commissioner amid the worst crime spike in the city since the 1970s and plummeting morale among officers who complained their boss was failing to provide the support and leadership they needed to do their jobs.

“We cannot continue to debate the leadership of the department,” Rawlings-Blake told a news conference she called to announce her decision. “We cannot continue to have the level of violence we’ve seen in recent weeks in this city.”

Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, who has only been with the department since January, will serve as interim commissioner, Rawlings-Blake said.

Batts and Rawlings-Blake are African-American, as is the city’s top prosecutor, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. Davis is white. Sixty percent of the city’s population is black, while the police department is 48 percent African-American. Mosby said her office has already met with Davis and she looks forward to working with him.

The firing comes less than three months after the city erupted in riots following the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died in April of injuries he received in police custody. Six police officers have been criminally charged in Gray’s death. Gray died April 19. Most of the unrest took place on April 27.

The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a civil rights review of the department and Batts announced Tuesday that an outside organization would review the police response to the unrest.

But the Baltimore police union released a scathing post-mortem report Wednesday accusing Batts and other top brass of instructing officers not to engage with rioters and to allow looting and destruction to occur.

“The officers repeatedly expressed concern that the passive response of the Baltimore police commanders to the civil unrest allowed the disorder to grow into full-scale rioting,” Gene Ryan, president of the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, wrote in the report. “The riots were preventable.”

In the weeks after the riots, homicides and other violent crimes spiked and arrests began to plummet as word spread that police officers were afraid that they, too, would be charged with crimes if something went wrong during the course of their duties.

Baltimore’s homicide total this year is 156, according to police. That’s a 48 percent increase compared with the same time last year. Shootings have increased 86 percent.

In the latest example, gunmen jumped out of two vans and fired at a group of people a few blocks from an urban university campus Tuesday night, killing three people.

The startling spike stands in stark contrast to Batts’ promise to fight violent crime when he arrived in Baltimore in 2012.

At a swearing-in ceremony in November of that year, Batts pledged to “continue our progress at reducing violent crime and holding accountable those that perpetrate violence in our good streets.”

Batts took over from Fred Bealefeld, who resigned after five years as commissioner and 31 in the Baltimore Police Department. Batts too was a veteran officer, though new to the city of Baltimore: He spent three decades in California, two as commissioner of the embattled Oakland Police Department and seven as commissioner of the Long Beach police department, where he’d served as a law enforcement officer for 20 years.

“I worked closely with Commissioner Batts and always found him open to my ideas for reforming the department,” said Baltimore City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young. “He was engaging, experienced, and served our city to the best of his ability.”

But Young said that when he talked recently with citizens and police officers, “it became increasingly clear that a growing lack of confidence in the direction of our city’s crime-fighting strategy had the potential to severely damage the long-term health of our city.”

The Rev. Jamal Bryant, who delivered the fiery eulogy at Gray’s funeral, called Batts’ firing a first step toward healing police-community relations.

“It’s no secret there’s been great strain and stress since the uprising,” he said. “It became not just a disconnect between police and the community but between the police and their commissioner.”

In the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood of West Baltimore, where Gray was arrested, residents praised the mayor’s decision.

Keonna Stokes, 22, said she was glad to see Batts removed from his position, and hopes a new commissioner will have a lower tolerance for police misconduct.

“The police wouldn’t do the things they do if the commissioner didn’t allow it,” she said. “He should have been fired. We call the police when we really need them, when people hurt us. But now we don’t call them, because they hurt us. If they didn’t, Freddie would still be here.”

Batts’ contract with the city paid him $190,000 and was to run through June 2020. It includes a provision for a severance payment equal to his annual salary if he is terminated without cause.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Police Chief Who Pledged Reforms Fired Amid Crime Spike

Don't Miss

One of the Last Tuskegee Airmen, Lt. Col. Eldridge Williams, Dies at 97

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Business

How Oakland’s Courtsmith is Scaling its Business and Local Impact

OAKLAND POST — “As Courtsmith grew, scaling wasn’t just about selling more—it was about building the infrastructure to deliver consistently, with a strong supply chain and production process,” said Courtney Smith, founder of Courtsmith. “We needed the right kind of capital and partners to help us expand without losing the Oakland authenticity that made us who we are.”

Published

2 days ago

August 1, 2026

bpusa-syndication

By JPMorganChase

With support from ICA Fund and JPMorganChase, founder Courtney Smith is strengthening his supply chain, creating jobs and expanding local production, and positioning the Oakland-born brand for long-term growth

When Courtney Smith founded Courtsmith in Oakland in 2014, he was building more than an athletic apparel company. A lifelong basketball enthusiast, Smith saw an opportunity to create performance wear that reflected the culture of the game—its style, community and sense of belonging.

From the beginning, Courtsmith was rooted in the idea that basketball is not just a sport, but a lifestyle and a community. The brand set out to make athletes look and feel good on and off the court while building partnerships that give athletes a stake in the products and stories they help shape.

“As Courtsmith grew, scaling wasn’t just about selling more—it was about building the infrastructure to deliver consistently, with a strong supply chain and production process,” said Courtney Smith, founder of Courtsmith. “We needed the right kind of capital and partners to help us expand without losing the Oakland authenticity that made us who we are.”

As the company grew, Smith faced a common challenge for small businesses: maintaining quality, reliability and authenticity of products while scaling—and having the resources to do so. The next move was not simply about expansion; it was about building the infrastructure to last.

That is where ICA Fund—a Bay Area impact investor, small business support organization and long-time partner to Courtsmith—came in. ICA’s relationship with Smith began in 2017 through its Growth Strategies advising program, and over time, the organization paired mentorship, technical assistance and capital to help the company grow with intention. More recently, philanthropic support from JPMorganChase helped ICA expand the range of capital products it can offer entrepreneurs like Smith, including options designed for companies that are ready to scale but may not be a fit for traditional debt products or equity investments.

“Too many great businesses stay stuck small without access to fair and flexible capital— ICA Fund’s role is to change that,” said Allison Kelly, CEO of ICA Fund. “With support from JPMorganChase, we’re able to provide founder-friendly financing alongside long-term partnership, giving entrepreneurs the tools they need to grow stronger businesses that create opportunity in their communities.”

The right kind of capital for a new stage of growth

ICA recently provided Courtsmith with a loan to help it buy a local manufacturing business, a major step toward bringing more of its production process closer to home, strengthening its supply chain, reducing costs, continuing its growth and creating local jobs.

The transaction also marked a milestone for ICA: the first time the organization approved capital for a merger-and-acquisition transaction. It reflects a broader expansion of the financing options it offers, supported by JPMorganChase’s American Dream Initiative, which aims, in part, to help power 10 million small businesses—up from seven million today—over the next several years with the capital, coaching, tools and practical policy support they need to thrive. It’s also an example of the kind of tailored support—delivered through trusted local pathways and the firm’s own relationships—that JPMorganChase provides to small businesses in the Bay Area, including our more than 295,000 small business clients.

“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and Courtsmith’s story shows how access to the right capital at the right time can unlock growth,” said Gwyneth Galbraith, Vice President for Global Philanthropy at JPMorganChase. “By supporting organizations like ICA Fund, we’re helping expand access to the kinds of financing and guidance entrepreneurs need to strengthen operations, create jobs and build lasting businesses across the Bay Area.”

Building with staying power

For small businesses, access to financing that fits their stage of growth can determine whether expansion is sustainable. A one-size-fits-all approach does not always work for companies with distinct cash-flow cycles, customer demand and operational needs. In Courtsmith’s case, the ICA loan gave the company a path to invest in its future while preserving the founder’s vision and control—and reflected the kind of flexible financing JPMorganChase is helping expand through its support of local community and mission-driven lenders.

Courtsmith’s trajectory reflects that momentum. The company reports that revenue grew 259% from 2021 to 2025, while its workforce expanded from four employees in 2017 to 13 in 2025, including growth in full-time roles from one to 11.

Behind those numbers is a company deepening its roots in Oakland through local partnerships, community presence and a model built to last.

“Courtsmith is about Oakland, representing the culture that raised us and creating opportunity for the next generation,” said Smith. “With ICA Fund and JPMorganChase in our corner, we can keep turning that mission into something people can see and feel in our community.”

Courtsmith’s next chapter is still being written, but the path is clearer: a founder-led brand with deeper local production capacity, a stronger supply chain, and a larger role in Oakland’s small business economy.

bpusa-syndication

Posts by bpusa-syndication

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of July 29 – August 4, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 29 – August 4, 2026

Published

2 days ago

August 1, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Black History

OP-ED: ‘The Trusted Messenger’ and the Black Vote

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Now, as we approach one of the most important Midterm elections in the history of this nation, it appears that, once again, the Black Press will be expected to carry the message about voter turnout, while political and campaign dollars go to the White mainstream media.

Published

4 days ago

July 29, 2026

bpusa-syndication

It is a well-established fact that the Black Press is and always has been the “Trusted Messenger” of the Black community. With that being said, it is also very interesting that when many political organizations and donors decided to support Voter Registration and Get Out The Vote, those donors gave their dollars predominantly to Black organizations like the Urban League, the NAACP, the League of Voters, and other nonprofit groups. Those groups will prepare and send out press releases about such voter participation efforts since Black people were responsible primarily for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

What is most interesting is that those press releases rarely find their way onto CNN or the major news networks. Those press releases and calls to Black voter participation are carried in the Black Press. However, the dollars that support those press releases being written, nor the ads that carry the message of those releases, reach the Black Press. Historically, the dollars behind those messages do not find their way to the very Black Press that carries those messages.

Now, as we approach one of the most important Midterm elections in the history of this nation, it appears that, once again, the Black Press will be expected to carry the message about voter turnout, while political and campaign dollars go to the White mainstream media.

Those who are spending the billions of dollars that will go to Campaign Finance appear to have forgotten that elections are won and lost on a single vote.

Now is the time to remind the candidates, the political Initiatives and Propositions that will appear on the ballots across this nation, that the Black Vote must not be taken for granted. It does not belong to any particular political party or interest group. It can not be judged by whether it exists in a Blue or Red State.

The Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and supporters of Initiatives should not assume that our votes are unimportant.

Elections are won on a single vote.

The United States Supreme Court in Reynolds vs. Sims, 1964. That case established the ‘One Person, One Vote” rule. The rule in that case made it mandatory to base legislative seats on population within districts rather than on geography, and guaranteed Equal Protection coverage under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

That principle has not been abolished, and neither should we act as if our one vote does not count. Let us not forget our own values, and we look toward the Midterm elections. The “Trusted Messenger” can make the difference.