AKRON, Ohio — Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan, announced his proposal for a citizen oversight board, but he’s not the only one working on this type of oversight.
Some members of Akron City Council and activists filed their own petitions for a civilian review board with the clerk of council earlier this week.
What You Need To Know
- Activists in Akron said they have collected more than 7,000 signatures supporting a civilian police oversight board
- Activists, along with some council members, filed their petitions with clerk of council this week
- The mayor's office announced its own proposal for a citizen oversight board, separate from the one activists proposed
“We collected over 7,000 signatures from the citizens of Akron,” said Ray Greene Jr., executive director of The Freedom Bloc. “They believe that we need oversight of our police department.”
Greene said he and the rest of the activists at The Freedom Bloc have been working on a police civilian review board since 2015.
“We are at this point in our community where we need something now,” Greene said. “We have a lot of examples to pull from, not only our own, but from other cities to make the best possible legislation that we can.”
Horrigan said his administration wants something similar, but his timeframe looks a lot different. Horrigan is looking to get this on the ballot in Nov. 2023, while The Freedom Bloc is pushing for this coming November.
“I think it is a little soon,” Horrigan said. “I think there are some things in there that are a little problematic when it comes to the collective bargaining agreement.”
Horrigan said the city’s proposal has also been in the works for a while and is not in response to the fatal shooting of Jayland Walker by Akron Police officers. Greene said that Walker’s death created a sense of urgency to get their initiative on the ballet this November.
“We went door to door, knocking on people’s doors, having conversations with them; talking to people at the gas stations, grocery stores,” Greene said. “Just a wide variety of different tactics that we used to make sure we got total input from the community.”
Greene’s proposal would focus on police and community relationship building, including police training on de-escalation and mental health.
“You are also going to see more of the community involved, as opposed to only certain people being allowed to be on this board,” Greene said. “The mayor only gets to pick three people and then city council picks six people based off the community’s recommendations. So it’s more of a collective effort than just one person picking everybody.”
Under Horrigan’s proposal, he would appoint an 11-member board, with the approval of city council. It would include someone from each ward, along with an attorney, someone from an organization affiliated with social justice and others.
“Get someone who has got maybe a law enforcement background, get someone who has a mental health background,” Horrigan said. “All of those different things.”
Greene said another major difference between Freedom Bloc’s proposal and the mayor’s is that the activists’ proposal would create a charter amendment.
“We don’t need something that could be ignored in the next mayoral election if this mayor doesn’t get elected, or these city council people don’t get elected and they don’t have to enforce this ordinance,” Greene said. “We need something that is set in stone, something that sets the stage for the future mayor and future council members of this city.”
Greene said they should receive an answer about how many of their signatures can be certified from the board of elections within the next few days.