By Matthew Artz
Oakland Tribune
Oakland — Former Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts is once again a top cop and this time he’ll have no shortage of officers at his disposal.
The Baltimore Sun is reporting that Batts will be appointed police commissioner in Baltimore, a city with fewer than twice as many residents as Oakland but more than four times as many police officers.
Oakland’s undermanned department was one of many complaints Batts had during his stormy two-years in the city, which ended last October with his resignation days before the first Occupy Oakland encampment.
Although his tenure was short, Batts, the undeniably charismatic former Long Beach chief, quickly stirred hopes during community visits that he would be a long-awaited reformer for the embattled department already under federal scrutiny.
But his sudden departure, after months of knocking heads with Mayor Jean Quan, council members, and the department’s court-appointed federal monitor, left many fretting that the department was doomed to a federal takeover.
Quan declined to comment on Batts’ appointment in Baltimore. Batts did not return calls for comment.
Council President Larry Reid said he gave Batts a good recommendation for the Baltimore job and that the chief was stymied in Oakland by micromanaging from both the mayor and council and a lack of resources.
“He wanted to be successful,” Reid said. “And the only way to be successful in Oakland is to have enough officers in the streets.”
Batts took over an Oakland force of nearly 800 officers in 2009, but after massive layoffs the following year, he left behind a force that numbered just 651.
In Baltimore, Batts will have about 3,000 officers to police a city of 619,000 -- compared to Oakland’s 396,000. Police are better paid in Oakland and the Bay Area than in Baltimore.
Batts was hugely popular with the public when he first took over the Oakland job, but was never well-liked at police headquarters where many of the rank-and-file considered him a showboat and a self-promoter.
His overall popularity sank when it was disclosed in early 2011 that he was a finalist for the chief’s job in San Jose. Batts, meanwhile, said that the Oakland job left him with limited control over policies, but full accountability.
“He was an extraordinarily capable person, but Oakland was not a good fit for him,” Councilmember Pat Kernighan said.
Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente also believed that Batts was micromanaged in Oakland and never allowed to rollout initiatives such as youth curfews. “Good for him and Baltimore,” the council member said. “Hopefully, they let him do his job. Hopefully, one of these days we’ll learn to do that in Oakland.”
Copyright 2012 Contra Costa Newspapers