Deputy Police Chief Moving Up to Top Post
Deputy Police Chief Gerald Batts will be sworn in next week as the department’s new chief, city officials announced Friday.
Batts, 42, succeeds Police Chief Jerome Lance, who is retiring. Batts was selected by City Manager Gerald Miller. Only members of the department were considered for the post, officials said.
Batts, who has a doctorate in public administration from La Verne University, will be the youngest chief in the history of Los Angeles County’s second-largest city. He has been with the department since 1982.
He is the second African American to head the 927-member department. The other, Chief Charles Usrey, headed the department during the 1980s.
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