Comments on: More police news

By: Fragmentary Evidence » Doing More With Less: OPD’s Plans to Bring Down Crime

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:17:29 +0000

[...] the department can get information to the press and the public more quickly and effectively. He makes sure that information is being shared with the public promptly at crime scenes. The man is no dummy, and he knows that fostering good relations with the press and the public [...]

By: awoodall

awoodall — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:08:28 +0000

The performance was no fluke, according to Batts, who laid out his agenda for OPD last week during a press conference. Batts didn’t announce anything new that Kelly Rayburn hasn’t reported. But it was the first I had heard that he was trying to forge better relations (the reason for HIS hire over others) between police and the public by just such means as being nice to them at crime scenes. We’ll see what comes of it but if you want me two cents (and even if you don’t) I think it’s good to hear. That doesn’t mean they are going to be walking around purring at people but neither do they have to growl anymore.

By: erkle

erkle — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:08:06 +0000

I think a floating sandbag is a story unto itself.

By: awoodall

awoodall — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:56:11 +0000

Yeah, you never know. But I think police respond when they feel like they have a good chief who has the department’s interests at heart. I am not saying that applies to Batts but it could. One of Batts No. 1 priorities is to improve community relations. I think what happened Thursday is a byproduct of that mandate. Every chief is hired with a specific political purpose in mind. The purposes change.

By: Dave C.

Dave C. — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:52:58 +0000

Interesting to hear your impressions. Of course we shouldn’t read too much into one person’s impressions of one situation, but it does sound like an improvement in some ways. I definitely believe that when a leader (in this case, Chief Batts) sets an example and makes it clear that he expects (i.e., demands) that his employees will behave in a certain way, then that alone can cause pretty fast and dramatic changes. Or as you say, could be a fluke. Who knows? As for the neighbors, maybe they were reacting favorably to the demeanor of the police, or maybe the people in that particular building are fed up with the repeated violence there, or maybe the residents who were around last night just happened to be less combative people, or maybe…again, who knows?

It’ll be interesting to hear if you sense a similar thaw in the air at future incidents…