Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced Wednesday that she has fired Police Commissioner Anthony Batts. Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Davis will step in as interim commissioner, according to CBS Baltimore.
In a report released Wednesday, the city police union largely blamed Batts for hindering police response to "preventable" riots following the death of Freddie Gray. The report concluded that the "overwhelming sentiment of officers is that the Baltimore Police Department's response to the riot was lacking in many areas," reported the Baltimore Sun.
"Officers characterized the Baltimore Police Department's leadership during the riots as unprepared, politically motivated, uncaring and confusing," union President Gene Ryan said at a news conference.
Batts sought "to divide" the department "rather than unite it," according to the review, and had given orders "not to engage protestors" and that arrests "had to be approved by civilians" in the police legal section.
Since the riots, Batts faced criticism for a spike in robberies, shootings and homicides. While arrests plummeted across the city, murders in one part of town skyrocketed 200 percent and shootings went up 800 percent shootings, reported The Daily Beast.
