It had to happen. Baltimore Police Commissioner fired. Mayor still holds on to her position.

By Rob Janicki

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts was fired on Wednesday following criticism of his handling of rioting over the death of a black man from an injury in police custody and a skyrocketing homicide rate.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the focus on Batts and the leadership of the 2,500-officer force had become a distraction in fighting resurgent crime and was hurting her goal of attracting families to the city.

Mayor Rawlings-Blake finally decided to throw the BPD Police Commissioner under the bus and deservedly so, except the mayor is just as responsible as the commissioner for the extent of the Freddie Gray riots in April.  It was the mayor who publicly indicated her acquiescence by letting the rioters destroy property in order to let off steam over the death of Freddie Gray.  

It was Commissioner Batts who then gave the direct order to his police force to stand down and not engage rioters as they destroyed one business after another while looting everything imaginable down to toilet paper.  

Officials have said the orders were aimed at protecting officers and bystanders. About 160 officers were hurt in the rioting, almost 400 buildings were destroyed or damaged and the National Guard was sent in to restore order.

It seems the blame does not go the top, but rather stops at the position of the police commissioner.  How much longer can Mayor Rawlings-Blake hang on?  I'm betting that the firing of Commissioner Batts will be enough to insulate the mayor from any further action by the city council.  The irony is that the interim police commissioner is a white guy who has only been working in the BPD since January.  I'd be watching my back if I were him.

Since the riots subsided some months ago, Baltimore crime has escalated and murder has skyrocketed.  Apparently with six BPD officers having been charged with over 25 criminal counts in Freddie Gray's death, the officers of BPD feel like they have been hung out to dry by the State's Attorney and the mayor.  Many legal scholars have indicated that the State's Attorney overcharged the officers both in the number of charges and the severity of the charges leveled against the six officers.  As a result, the officers of BPD have backed off in their intensity to enforce the law out of fear that they may be the next "victims" of an over zealous prosecutor.

Baltimore has tallied 155 killings for the year versus 105 in the same period in 2014, police said on Wednesday.

Data on serious felonies to date has not been available at this writing, but it is reported to have escalated substantially since the riots took place in April.