Akron’s Citizens’ Police Oversight Board is celebrating some progress as it heads into its third year, but members acknowledge there is still more work to be done to improve police and community relations.
The board gives policy recommendations to the police department and receives complaints about officer misconduct.
This year, board members hired a police auditor, Anthony Finnell.
“Getting him was, I think, a big win for our board,” said Board Chair Kemp Boyd. “It was a big win for our community, and, I think, over time, the police department will see it was. It's gonna be a big win for them as well.”
The board also hired a deputy auditor, Keysha Myers.
Finnell and Myers investigate misconduct complaints, as well as uses of force. Since he was hired in May, Finnell has reviewed more than 130 incidents, Boyd said.
Of those, he has twice disagreed with how officers handled uses of force - including the takedown of a young woman during an arrest.
Finnell has also recommended several policy changes around Taser usage and de-escalation.
In 2025, Boyd said he wants to see the department implement those changes.
“I would like to see more discussion into asking, ‘Hey man, if he's agreeing with 97% or 98% with us, but these two, he doesn't … let's really talk about and find out … why is that?'” Boyd said. “It feels like we're in more of a pattern of defending action, versus rather trying to understand how do we get to 100, right?”
Akron Police Chief Brian Harding disagreed with Finnell’s report on the takedown of the individual, saying it was justified. That prompted one councilmember to call for the chief to be fired.
Despite the board’s progress in 2024, there is still much work to do, Boyd said, especially in the aftermath of a recent fatal police shooting.
Boyd has heard from residents that they are hurting, weeks after an Akron officer fatally shot 15-year-old Jazmir Tucker on Thanksgiving.
“‘We're feeling like, man, we're being targeted, right, or hunted down,’” Boyd said of residents’ comments at a recent board meeting. “That's really concerning to me, as far as just language, because I don't think as a human being, nobody wants to feel that way.”
Boyd says he plans to work with the police chief and mayor in 2025 to communicate those concerns and work to strengthen relationships.
“I think that we are in a position where there's been a lot of trust lost, and we have to understand it's going to take time for that trust to be repaired and to be healed, to be quite honest with you,” Boyd added.
The board will also work with the police, city leaders and mayor’s office this year to conduct a comprehensive review of the department's use of force policy.
Mayor Shammas Malik has proposed hiring outside consultants, led by former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, to review the policy.
Looking ahead to 2025, the board also hopes to expand its authority.
Currently, the board's auditor must wait to investigate uses of force until after the police department conducts an internal investigation.
“How do we now have the community help us, because I think it would be good for our community as a whole, for our oversight board to have more authority than what it currently has today,” Boyd said.
Board members are having early discussions about trying to expand the board's investigative power through a charter amendment, he said.
The board is also planning more community engagement initiatives in 2025.
