New
Long Beach police chief making strides
Cheif
Anthony W. Batts
By
Daniel Frias
On-line Forty-Niner
When
Anthony W. Batts received a phone call last
year from the Long Beach city manager to
inform him he was the new chief of police
for the Long Beach Police Department, he
was anything but happy.
"I
always thought I would be doing the moonwalk,
and doing flips and cartwheels when I got
the call," Chief Batts said. "But
it was nothing like that. It was a lot of
weight on me. You feel the weight you have
for being responsible for a half a million
people. I'm responsible for every action
in this city seven days a week. It feels
like I'm shrugging a ton of weight."
Despite
the enormous responsibility Batts said he
feels, he has accomplished many things within
the short time he has been police chief.
Under his command officer productivity has
increased in several areas: Arrests are
up 17 percent, the number of reports taken
went up 8 percent and calls for service
handled are up by 3 percent. The homicide
rate has dropped by 32 percent since last
year.
Batts
has also hired 120 new police recruits and
put more officers out on the streets as
a way to combat crime which has gone down
8 percent within the past year. This is
one of Batts' biggest accomplishments.
"The
greatest thing was reducing the crime rate,"
Batts said. "When I first started it
was going up and now we brought it back
down. I was able to send more police officers
out to the streets and we have become more
efficient, leaner and more productive."
As
the person in charge of a city with 477,000
residents and a police staff of 1,500 employees
Batts has very little time for anything
not related to police work. His day begins
at 8 a.m. and doesn't end until 10 p.m.
Even then he is still not off duty.
"I
never get off duty," Batts said. "I
work seven days a week. The department has
to be able to get a hold of me at any given
time in case something happens. Even when
I am on vacation they can call me and I
have to come back. It's not unusual for
me to get calls at two, three or four in
the morning. When there's a shooting, an
accident or something happens they call
me to inform me about the situation."
Batts
began his career in law enforcement as a
community relations assistant with the Long
Beach Police Department in 1982 right after
graduating from Cal State Long Beach with
a degree in law enforcement administration.
Batts, however, was more interested in becoming
a lawyer than a police officer.
"I
was interested in law," Batts said.
"I wanted to go to law school. After
I graduated from college I asked my parents
if I could stay home a little while longer
and they didn't let me. They said 'no, you
eat too much. Go out and get a job.' I came
out here and started to enjoy what I was
doing. And didn't end up going to law school."
What
Batts ended up doing was getting accepted
into the police academy that same year and
continued his education receiving his master's
degree in business management from the University
of Lawrence. Batts also holds a doctorate
in public administration.
"I
enjoy learning and going to school. Education,
when I was young, was drilled into my head
by my parents. They always said you're going
to college. I didn't even know what college
was," Batts said.
Batts'
love for learning and helping people led
him beyond the police office and city streets
and into the classrooms of higher education.
Batts began his teaching career in 1997.
He first taught at a private university
for half a year before going on to teach
at Fullerton College, then Long Beach City
College. Batts currently teaches police
administration at CSULB.
"I've
always enjoyed teaching. I get a thrill
out of it," he said. "I like to
challenge students and make them think critically.
Having bright minds [challenging me] keeps
me sharp. I enjoy that."
It
was Batts' exceptional track record and
qualifications that made Long Beach city
manager Jerry Miller's decision to hire
a new chief of police after ex-Chief of
Police Jerry Lance retired.
"We
had a lot of qualified candidates,"
Miller said. "In my mind Chief Batts
had all the right qualifications. He had
exceptional educational qualifications and
professional development. He has worked
in a variety of jobs in the police department
for a number of years.
"[Batts]
has done an exceptional job," Miller
said. "I can't imagine anybody doing
a better job than he has. He's been a wonderful
gift for our city."
After
a year of being Long Beach Chief of Police,
Batts said he feels the same we he did a
year ago when he took the job.
"It
still feels the same way every morning,"
Batts said. "A lot of responsibility.
It is really hard to describe to people.
It's a tough job. [Law enforcement] is a
tough business. There's a lot of stress
that goes along with the profession. It's
not for everyone, but I enjoy it. I've always
wanted to fight crime and serve people and
do police work."
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