anthony batts

• News

Michael Harrison sworn in as Baltimore’s 41st police commissioner

Former New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison was formally sworn in as Baltimore’s 41st Police Commissioner Tuesday morning.

By Jessica Anderson

Mar 12, 2019

• Anthony Batts

Document: Contract for former Baltimore police Commissioner Anthony Batts

Document: Contract for Baltimore police Commissioner Anthony Batts

• News

De Sousa's resignation means no severance, but he will receive accrued leave, according to his contract

Outgoing Baltimore Police Commissioner Darryl De Sousa, who resigned Tuesday, will not receive the same large severance package received by his two predecessors, who were fired “without cause” by the last two mayors, according to his contract.  But he will get other benefits.

By Kevin Rector

May 15, 2018

• Baltimore City

GTTF testimony draws link back to drugs looted from Baltimore pharmacies in 2015 riot after Freddie Gray funeral

On Thursday, a Baltimore bail bondsman said a member of the city’s Gun Trace Task Force arrived at his home with two trash bags full of looted prescription drugs amid the April 2015 riots and looting.

• News

Once again, Baltimore's mayor has fired a police commissioner. Will it make a difference?

Every few years — usually when violent crime is rising — the mayor of Baltimore fires the police commissioner.

• Baltimore City

What we know about the firing of Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh fired police commissioner Kevin Davis on Friday. Here's a rundown of what we know.

• News

Goodson defense calls police policy and training into question

Attorneys for Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. began his defense at his administrative trial in the death of Freddie Gray on Thursday by calling a series of police witnesses whose testimony highlighted policy and training failures by the city police department.

By Kevin Rector

Nov 2, 2017

• Opinion

Why must taxpayers foot the bill for riot damage?

Don't force taxpayers to bail out city businesses damaged in Freddie Gray unrest.

• News

Baltimore businesses destroyed during riots sue city officials for failing to prevent violence

Dozens of Baltimore business owners are suing city officials, including the police department and former Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, for mishandling the city's response to the rioting in 2015.

By Jessica Anderson

Jun 21, 2017

• News

Baltimore police overtime spending soars as department grapples with understaffing, shift changes

The Police Department is on pace to exceed its $17 million overtime budget by nearly $30 million.

• News

Amid law enforcement scrutiny, a rising black voice enters top ranks of Baltimore's police union

Many in the Baltimore Police Department took notice of Lt. Kenny Butler's outspokenness after last year's unrest, and last month elected him first vice president of the local Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3 — making him the highest-ranking black officer in the organization's history.

By Kevin Rector

Oct 24, 2016

• Baltimore City

Baltimore approves $1.1 million more for Tasers

Baltimore's Board of Estimates on Wednesday approved $1.1 million for Taser International to continue supplying Baltimore police with the company's stun guns and related equipment.

By Luke Broadwater

Aug 24, 2016

• Maryland

National Guard drills for major disease outbreak

Some 300 troops from the Maryland National Guard drilled for a deadly outbreak of a bird-flu-like disease this week that they envisage would spread panic in urban areas and require the killing of chickens by the barnful.

By Ian Duncan

Aug 13, 2016

• Baltimore City Paper

A conversation with Police Commissioner Kevin Davis

On the one-year anniversary of Freddie Gray's death, Police Commissioner Kevin Davis sat in his southeast corner office at Baltimore Police Department

• Sun Investigates

Former Baltimore police commissioner understated Taser use to city officials

Months after asking the U.S. Department of Justice to reform the Baltimore police force, Commissioner Anthony W. Batts went before a City Council committee to detail how much force officers used during arrests.

By Mark Puente

Apr 16, 2016

• Politics

Senate approves bill to end mandatory terms for city police comissioners

By Erin Cox

Mar 10, 2016

• News

Baltimore police to increase street patrols amid historic spike in violence

In an effort to stem Baltimore's tide of violence, police commanders plan to send as many as 250 officers who are normally assigned to desk jobs and specialized support units out to patrol some of the city's hardest-hit neighborhoods.

By Kevin Rector

Nov 18, 2015

• News

Report details 'major shortcomings' in Baltimore police response to unrest

The group's 79-page independent report, which then-Commissioner Anthony W. Batts requested as an outside check on his department's self-evaluation after the unrest, is set to be released publicly on Monday. Produced with direct input from police commanders and other stakeholders and partners in the department's response to the unrest, it provides new, top-level explanations for consequential decisions and new details that bolster existing criticisms. It also highlights gaps in knowledge about

By Kevin Rector

Nov 16, 2015

• Baltimore City Paper

Protesters march following confirmation of Kevin Davis

• Maryland

City Council confirms Kevin Davis as police chief

The Baltimore City Council overwhelmingly voted Monday night to confirm Kevin Davis as Baltimore's new police chief.

• Opinion

Davis' golden parachute

In the grand scheme of things, a $150,000 severance clause for Baltimore's top cop isn't that big a deal, but under the circumstances, it still rankles.

• Sun Investigates

Batts stop-and-frisk document missing, police department says

Documentation of a "stop and frisk" by then-Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts, which the Baltimore Police Department withheld from public disclosure, has now gone missing, the agency says.

• Looking for answers:

Pressure builds as police investigate Freddie Gray's arrest

Brutality allegations have not been uncommon in Baltimore Police Department - a Sun investigation last fall revealed that the city had paid nearly $6 million since 2011 in court judgments and settlements in lawsuits alleging police misconduct.

By Justin George

Oct 9, 2015

• Looking for answers:

Police begin investigation into Freddie Gray's death

Did Gray suffer an injury before his spine was damaged in police custody? Was he hurt while being dragged to a police van or was he malingering? Did police beat him?

By Justin George

Oct 9, 2015

• Looking for answers:

Tension mounts between police, prosecutors as charges announced in Freddie Gray case

As Anthony Batts' deadline neared for providing results of the investigation to Baltimore State¿s Attorney Mosby, signs of tension between police and prosecutors surfaced.

By Justin George

Oct 9, 2015

• Looking for answers:

Riots complicate police probe into Freddie Gray's death

Baltimore erupted Monday, in the first major riot since the late 1960s. What began as a confrontation between police and high school students at Mondawmin Mall escalated into fiery destruction in parts of East and West Baltimore.

By Justin George

Oct 9, 2015

• Baltimore City

Director of Baltimore police training academy resigns

Paul Banach, director of the Baltimore Police Department's Professional Development and Training Academy since June of last year, has resigned and will be replaced by the commander of the department's Northwestern District, police officials confirmed Thursday.

By Kevin Rector

Sep 24, 2015

• Maryland

Prosecutor's commitment makes a city neighborhood safer

Our City of Perpetual Recovery needs follow-through. It needs focus. Baltimore needs institutional grit and determination. It needs public servants with an abiding aversion to unfinished business.

By Dan Rodricks

Sep 18, 2015

• Opinion

Is Rawlings-Blake setting Davis up for a big payout?

Excessive severance

• Opinion

Baltimore should give Davis a chance -- and a contract one year into next mayor's term

The ¿interim¿ tag on Davis¿s title was no small thing. It suggested that Davis was merely a temp, a fill-in between the commissioner Rawlings-Blake hired and fired, Anthony Batts, and some other unnamed commish.

By Dan Rodricks

Sep 16, 2015

• Baltimore City Paper

Best Fall Guy: Anthony Batts

• Education

Baltimore mayor seeks to remove 'interim' title from Police Commissioner Davis

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will look to make acting commissioner Kevin Davis the permanent head of the city Police Department, her spokesman said Monday.

• News

Mayor's announcement creates new uncertainty for troubled police department

Baltimore's embattled police department — that's confronting a spike in violent crime and added scrutiny after the death of Freddie Gray — is now facing months of uncertainty about its leadership.

By Kevin Rector

Sep 11, 2015

• Baltimore City Paper

Kwame and the Commish: Activist and top cop exchange words during protest

• Opinion

Batts on officers "taking a knee" [Poll]

Is former Baltimore police commissioner Anthony Batts write that officers ¿took a knee¿ after April¿s riots?

• Maryland

Davis says Baltimore police officers 'take offense' at Batts' comments

Interim Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said city police officers are working as hard as ever through a "tough summer" mired by violence, and said many officers the department were "disappointed" and took offense to recent comments made by former Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts.

By Jessica Anderson

Sep 3, 2015

• Baltimore City Paper

Davis shows more aggressive approach to protests than his predecessor Batts

• Opinion

Post-Freddie Gray, two poles of Baltimore leadership

Ex-chief Batts and Judge Williams show us two poles of leadership post-Freddie Gray.

• News

Anthony Batts says police 'took a knee' after Baltimore riots

Former Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts said Wednesday night that officers "took a knee" after the April riots following the death of Freddie Gray, allowing crime to spike because they felt a lack of support from commanders.

By Colin Campbell

Sep 2, 2015

• Anthony Batts

Former police commissioner Batts to take part in discussion of Baltimore, national unrest

Former Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts is scheduled to take part in a panel discussion Wednesday at Mount St. Mary's University on racial unrest in Baltimore and in America.

• Maryland

Criminal misconduct dominates Baltimore police terminations

Even as leaders of the Baltimore Police Department work to improve the agency's image, documents show that criminal misconduct dominates the reasons for employee terminations.

By Mark Puente

Aug 29, 2015

• Baltimore City Paper

Conflicts of Interest: White shirt, white dude

There was a protest this weekend to mark the anniversary of Mike Brown at the hands of then-police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. A small group, organized by the People's Power Assembly and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, gathered at Penn and North on a bright warm Saturday. About a half an hour in, as speakers took turns at the mic, Interim Commissioner Kevin Davis walked up with a couple other cops.

• Health

Firm investigated for lax police screenings also accused of negligence in officer's suicide

The Lutherville-based psychology firm being investigated for rushing mental health screenings of prospective Baltimore police officers also treated — and cleared for duty — an officer who killed herself last year with her service weapon after an extended battle with bipolar disorder and depression.

By Kevin Rector

Aug 6, 2015

• Opinion

Rawlings-Blake v. Dixon, a mayoral showdown

In a recent Dan Rodricks' column, he offered three categories of Baltimoreans' views on Sheila Dixon's run for mayor. We suggest a subdivision of the "Bring Her Back" category: citizens who are not Dixon loyalists and are disappointed by her ethical lapses, but consider her petty personal avarice outweighed by her greater public virtues. Let us compare her to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

• News

Interim Baltimore police commissioner announces major reorganization

Interim Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis announced a sweeping reorganization of the department in an email to police Saturday night, promoting or moving 28 people into new roles.

• Maryland

Top Baltimore City salaries for 2015

The annual salaries of Baltimore employees for Fiscal Year 2015 were released this week. Here's a look at the top 10.

By Sean Welsh

Jul 30, 2015

• Baltimore City

More details emerge on Batts meeting after Freddie Gray death

By Colin Campbell

Jul 30, 2015

• News

Unrest emails: Anthony Batts to BPD staff on May 1

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts emails staff members on May 1, 2015.

• News

Unrest emails: Anthony Batts to BPD staff on April 26

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts emails staff members on April 26, 2015.

• News

Amid curfew, Rawlings-Blake and Batts were inundated with emails to end it

Emails would also begin pouring into Batts and Rawlings-Blake's email boxes the same day — and continue through that Saturday — from a separate online campaign to end the curfew that was organized by the American Civil Liberties Union and signed by residents across the city and all across the state, from Oakland in far Western Maryland to Salisbury on the Eastern Shore.

By Kevin Rector

Jul 28, 2015