Chief’s leaving a worrisome trend

It’s a shame that Mesa’s police chief abruptly called it quits.

Not that I blame him for doing so. Ramon Batista came to Mesa with a promise to reform the department.

But he lost support from some of the rank and file after he criticized officers’ responses in high-profile use-of-force incidents.

Batista emphasized at the time that he wasn’t making blanket statements about officers, and that his criticism was focused more on breakdowns in policy, training and department culture, which he vowed to fix.

But that’s not how some officers took it. They thought Batista was willing to throw them under the bus.

And that severely hurt his efforts to make deep, lasting reforms.

Yes, Batista survived a vote of no confidence among police union members.

He had the support of the mayor and City Manager Chris Brady, who had the power to hire and fire him.

Brady told The Arizona Republic it was the chief’s decision to resign, and that while Batista left solely because he wanted to focus on other things, “... he saw his role and what he wanted to do and he felt like there was a tough road ahead.”

Batista revised many of the department’s policies and training practices in his two years as chief — focusing heavily on use of force and deescalation tactics.

He intended to take the department in the direction it needs to go, at least in theory.

But there’s a difference between having a policy or undergoing training and fully embracing them on the streets, especially in trying situations where officers must make split-second decisions.

There’s a lot more work to do there — work that would have taken time to play out even in the best circumstances, not when Batista was fighting an uphill battle to regain officers’ trust.

Indeed, morale has not significantly improved under Batista’s leadership — and some contend it’s gotten much worse with him at the helm.

I wish it wasn’t that way. I wish this wasn’t the third time in nine years that Mesa will have to search for a new chief.

The department needs — and deserves — some stability. Someone who is new enough to clean the slate of hurt feelings but who can also continue this necessary conversation about use of force and deescalation.

I recognize I may have just described a unicorn.

Policing is increasingly becoming a game that nobody wins, where even the right moves can be interpreted as wrong by someone.

It’s even more so for police chiefs, who are simultaneously criticized for being too hard or soft on officers when things go horribly wrong.

That’s what concerns me most about Batista’s swift departure.

If the challenges of the job lead to a revolving door of leadership, we’re in trouble.