Mesa Police Chief Ramon Batista has responded to the results of a vote of no confidence against him.
In a statement released Wednesday, the Mesa Fraternal Order of Police said of the 564 police department employees who responded to the vote, 95% of them said they had no confidence in Chief Batista, with only 23 employees saying they had confidence in the chief.
"He is no longer welcome in the Mesa Police Department. He is no longer welcome in our home and we'd like him to leave," said Nate Gafvert, President with the Mesa Police Association.
"Morale has never been worse at the Mesa Police Department," said Will Biascoechea, President of Mesa Fraternal Order of Police, in the statement. "Through his ineffective leadership and intimidation of police officers, Chief Batista has created a toxic environment that puts both police officers and citizens in danger."
Results from the no-confidence vote came one year after a video showing an unarmed black man, since identified as Robert Johnson, being beaten by Mesa Police officers was released. At the time, Chief Batista tried to do damage control."That's not the training expectations that I have for officers in a situation where somebody doesn't want to sit down," said Chief Batista.
"Throwing our officers under the bus and making dramatic changes to how things are done overnight does nothing but cause to hesitate, and hesitation gets officers and citizens hurt and killed," said Gafvert.
"What Mesa Police did to Mr. Johnson has caused a permanent scarring, physically and mentally to him," said Benjamin Taylor, an attorney for Johnson. "These officers should have been fired, should have been in the court of law facing criminal charges with what they did."
The five officers involved never faced charges, and Johnson has now filed a lawsuit against Mesa Police in civil court,The union said the scrutiny that officers have received in the aftermath of the Johnson incident is unfair.
"We bring the 6 o'clock news with us on every call. Our patrol officers have cameras. So we bring that video. We know that video is going to be there. Then, when it looks terrible or an officer uses an expletive in the middle of a fight and then they get scrutinized for it, it's ridiculous," said Gafvert.
"Everybody talks about the victims. Well, our officers are the victims," said Will Biascoechea, President of the Mesa Fraternal Order of Police.
"We are paid to win. When we show up to a call, do you pay your officers to lose? No, you pay them to win. So when we go there, we take action and we win. Now if you don't comply, we're still going to win."Chief Batista released a statement in response to the vote's result.
"The Mesa Police Department's mission is and always has been to protect and serve the people of Mesa. We work together with City leaders and the community to prevent and reduce crime and to ensure justice by building trust, showing respect and preserving human rights.As a command staff, we are committed to leading this department and supporting its officers as they carry out their duties. Together we have experienced tremendous growth and faced challenges that in the end will make us better. We will continue to build stronger relationships within the department and throughout the community.I am proud to serve the City of Mesa as the Police Chief and to lead the men and women of the Mesa Police Department."According to data released by Mesa Police, there are an estimated 761 sworn officers, and an estimated 462 professional staff members on the force, with the actual numbers varying slightly due to weekly or monthly retirements, attrition, and other factors. As it's an anonymous survey, it is not known how many of those responded are professional staff members or sworn police officers.
Taylor said Chief Batista should not be punished for trying to change the culture.
"When the Mesa Police Union is going up against their chief, when the chief is trying to change their culture and when you have a chief trying to change their culture, the community, the mayor the city council should support that," said Taylor.
Mesa's city charter prohibits city council members from interfering with the city's administrative operations, which falls on the City Manager. FOX 10 has reached out to the city's manager, Chris Brady, for comment.
Reader Comments
1. Wife was involved in 2 accidents neither were her fault. One she was side swiped by a motorcyclist which totaled her car. They had no proof of insurance, no ids, no address proof of ownership of the motorcycle and the cops told them they were free to leave. Without giving us any of their information. I told the cops that they were NOT free to leave! Insane! Because they had no insurance we ate the bill. The people later tried to sue us.
2. Wife was t-boned by a red light runner which totaled another vehicle. Cop never talked to us. Wife was hurt and never offered to call an ambulance. We did it all ourselves! He only talked to the other driver, let him go and then left.
3. I was sitting outside a bowling alley in my car waiting for my wife to go bowling. I was parked in a parking space with the car running. Cop pulls up behind me and asks me what I am doing. I told him that I was waiting for my wife to go bowling. He says that I can’t sit there and so we get into an argument and he says that if I do not leave that he will arrest me. I drive around the block, go back because my wife has arrived and go bowling. It’s private property. I was literally there 15 min prior to him showing up.
4. When I was in the army I was driving home around 1am bc that’s when I got out of meetings. 2 officers pulled me over (out of boredom) and read off a laundry list of reasons why they could write me tickets. I was not having any of it and an argument began. I fought with those assholes till they let me go which of course they made me wait till about 230am. One of the tickets they threatened me with was bc my license plate light was too far up in the bumper. I politely asked them what I should do about it. Write a letter to the manufacturer about how far up their license lamps are?
5. Last one. I’m getting all fired up lol. Went to jack in the box with friends from high school. It was after hours but jacks drivethough is always open 24-7. Cop pulls in behind us pulls us all out of the veh asking us what we are doing and says that we match a description of people who just robbed a movie store next door. We must look stupid if we just rob a movie store next door and then go eat right next door to that.
Luckily I am a white guy so they never drew their weapons on me but it’s just been out of control. I have no arrest record and no tickets. My father was a police office for 26 years so I always had respect for them until I became an adult. They are not your friends and they do not want the best for you. I will never voluntarily call the Mesa police for anything.