Mesa names interim police chief after Ramon Batista’s resignation
Nov 5, 2019, 9:42 AM | Updated: 4:46 pm
Assistant Chief Ken Cost (City of Mesa Photo)
(City of Mesa Photo)
PHOENIX — The city of Mesa has named an interim police chief after Ramon Batista stepped down Monday.
The city announced Tuesday that Assistant Chief Ken Cost, who has been with the department for almost 25 years, will take Batista’s spot.
“Appointing Assistant Chief Cost to this position was an easy decision based on his extensive law enforcement experience, knowledge of, and relationships with the community and tenure with Mesa Police,” City Manager Chris Brady said in a press release.
“I am fully confident in his ability to lead this department professionally and with the utmost integrity, transparency, and commitment.”
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Cost joined the department in 1995 and was promoted to assistant chief last year.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice at California State University, Fullerton and will be completing his master’s in criminal justice administration next year.
Batista was hired in 2017 after retiring from the Tucson Police Department.
His departure came five months after the Mesa Police Association held a vote in which 95% of 564 officers surveyed said they did not have confidence in him.
The department’s union has criticized the way Batista handled controversial use-of-force incidents and said in a February post the incidents were “wildly exaggerated and fueled by Chief Batista’s epic failure of leadership.”
The union believed Batista prematurely convicted officers in the court of public opinion and destroyed morale in the department.
