AKRON, Ohio — The push to create an independent citizen review board in Akron to provide police oversight is being fueled by groups who want the issue taken straight to voters.

The killing of Jayland Walker by Akron police in late June was a show of “excessive use of force,” according to the Akron NAACP, which is one of the groups spearheading the move to let voters decide whether a review board will be created through a charter amendment.

Akron NAACP President Judy Hill said a board to provide independent police oversight has been a long time coming. In light of the Walker shooting, she said, now is the time to make it a reality.

“I think it brought a whole lot of things to light,” Hill said of the shooting. “And we realize that, you know, the city is doing a lot to protect the police department, that's great. I understand that you're afraid for this, you're afraid for that. But they're not giving the citizens anything. If they're not, then we need to do it for ourselves.”

What You Need To Know

  • Area groups want to ask voters whether Akron forms a citizen review board for police oversight

  • Akron NAACP is among the groups working to put the issue on the November ballot to change the city charter

  • There are distinct differences between whether a review board is formed though city ordinance or charter amendment

  • A charter amendment would give the city less control and rely on the charter language voters approve

A draft of language that could be on ballots in November is nearing completion. To qualify, the petitioners will need valid signatures from 10% of Akronites who cast votes in the last General Election in 2019, which equates to 2,678, according to the Summit County Board of Elections.

Walker, a 25-year-old Black man, was unarmed when he was shot more than 40 times by Akron police in June. Police picked up on Walker driving with a burnt-out license plate light. They pursed him as he led them on a chase, during which police said he shot at them. When he stepped out of his vehicle, police said his movements were threatening and shot him multiple times.

Since the shooting, protest groups have called for police reform and issued demands, among them, creation of a board to provide police oversight.

Such a board can be created via city ordinance approved by City Council or with a charter amendment, and there are distinct differences.

The Akron NAACP and other groups want a review board in place through a charter amendment, because it would diminish city government control over the board.

With a city ordinance, the mayor could appoint board members with city council approval but, because they “serve at the pleasure of the mayor,” the mayor could also remove individuals from the board at will.

Additionally, although the mayor can delegate to the board the power to hire or fire a police auditor, the mayor or a successor could revoke that at any time.

In the charter, the language is spelled out regarding how the board members are selected, how long they serve and the details of how they could be terminated. The same applies to the police auditor position.

The city recently announced it would look into creating a review board, but it is unclear whether the officials are referring to an ordinance.

In a joint statement in mid-July, Mayor Dan Horrigan and City Council President Margo Sommerville announced the city would gather feedback internally and from the community to implement a citizen review board, and propose a plan by late 2022.

Letting Akron voters decide through a charter amendment is the recommendation of the Criminal Justice Subcommittee of the Racial Equity and Social Justice Taskforce the city put in place after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. That opinion is in a five-year plan the task force released early this year.

“A charter amendment, and only a charter amendment, can make the members of a civilian oversight board removable (by the mayor) only for cause,” Task Force Chair Bishop Joey Johnson and Criminal Justice Subcommittee Chair Bill Rich wrote in a statement in late July.

“A board or commission whose members serve at the pleasure of the mayor is not independent of mayoral control because they would know that they can be removed if they make any decision with which the mayor disagrees,” they wrote.

At its last meeting, the city’s Reimaging Public Safety Committee, a committee created by City Council, said it will analyze the ways a citizen review board could be created using information provided by the Akron Law Department.

Ward 8 Councilman Shammus Malik said in a text he will support the citizen petition that’s now in the works to create the review board via charter amendment.

In his monthly newsletter to residents, pointed to citizen review boards recently created in Columbus and Cleveland.

“We can do that here,” he wrote. “We are not immune from the problems that we see in other cities — we are not above the solutions either.”

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