AKRON, Ohio — Shammas Malik won the Akron mayoral Democratic primary, receiving more than 43% of the vote. 

Malik, 32, will likely be the city’s next mayor as no Republican or independent challenger has filed to run. Malik could likely become the first person of color to take the top leadership role in Akron. 

“It really is meaningful that the city I was born and raised in, the city that has done so much for me, you know almost one out of every two people voted for our campaign in a field of seven people, its really just hard to wrap your head around,” Malik said. “My whole life I’ve had to navigate differing perspectives and differing worlds. I’m comfortable doing that. I’m comfortable being uncomfortable, so I think that is what it means to have a person of color for all of that perspective that I bring, for all of that diversity that I bring, I still will never understand what its like to be a Black person, partially a Black man in Akron.” 

If elected, Malik will step into the mayor’s office during a time the city is divided on several issues, including police reform.

“The reality is that I think most Akronites want the same thing, which is just to be safe. Part of that safety is making sure we have a police department that works and that everyone can trust it,” Malik said. “A huge piece of that is making sure that the community priorities are reflected in the police department.” 

Malik said within the first six months of taking office he will decide whether to build a new police department because of issues with the current building. 

“There is kind of this dichotomy. It’s defund the police or back the blue,” he said. “I want a police department that is safe and accountable and transparent, but that works. The current status quo doesn’t work for anyone. It’s not an easy job, remotely, for our officers, and there is a large portion of our community, a large portion of our Black community that doesn’t feel protected, and so we have a lot of work to do but part of that is investing and making sure the department is part of the department we want it to be.” 

He said he wants to see a change in the culture of the Akron police department and put a focus on community policing and co-responder models, seen in other communities including Columbus, Cleveland and Dayton. 

“The folks who helped with Dayton’s law enforcement action partnership, they want to help us come and set up a program in Akron,” he said. “We have talked about it for years. I have proposed doing it with ARPA funds in 2021. So here we are, let’s go ahead and do that. Let’s pilot it. Let’s figure out how it works in Akron and let’s scale it. Then if there are situations where it makes sense to have an alternative responder program, where social workers and mental health workers can go out instead of officers, then that makes sense, but lets start with the co-responder model. Let’s make sure it works and everyone is comfortable with how it functions and then let’s scale it from there.” 

Regarding the Jayland Walker case, where an unarmed black man was shot by eight Akron police officers dozens of times, Malik said he will look at the policies that lead to Walkers death. 

“Can we create better policies that decrease that likelihood that situations will end in that moment occurring, right?” he said. “So we can review our police vehicle chase policy. We can review our traffic stop polices. We can improve the level of training we have, and this is something that departments across the county have done.” 

If elected, Malik will take office in January.