Batts Endorses High School Survey

Chief Batts enthusiastically supports PUEBLO's High School Survey on Policing! Tamara Lawrence, a senior at Metwest High School, is spearheading this work to fulfill her senior project, working with Janice Embrey as her mentor. In PUEBLO's first meeting with Chief Batts, Tamara explained the reason she chose this work and described attitudes that many of her classmates have toward Oakland police. She pointed out that many young people fail to make the distinction between the BART police and the Oakland police and that the Oscar Grant shooting reinforced some of the perceptions young people have about police, in general.
Chief Batts responded to her presentation saying that he supports this project and looks forward to meeting with the young people involved in this work after the survey is completed and the findings have been reported. He said that improving relations with youth in Oakland is one of his top priorities, and described his upbringing in a rough neighborhood in Los Angeles to demonstrate his awareness of the challenges facing some of Oakland's youth.

Created: 01-17-2010