AKRON, Ohio — Akron Mayor Shammas Malik announced Brian Harding as Akron’s Chief of Police last Friday, but now there is potentially even more change within the Akron Police Department's leadership.

It is change that Akron’s NAACP President, Judi Hill, has been pushing for for the last several months.

“One of the issues that we definitely saw when he was looking at a new police chief was their was no diversity in the lineage, that was very frustrating,” Hill said.

Now that Harding is in place, Mayor Malik has asked the city council to approve a plan that would offer a $400,000 buyout for any of its deputy chiefs. Malik said the hope would be to allow Chief Harding to build a new management structure for the police department. Hill expressed the need for more diversity in the department.

“We needed diversity. We needed diversity in thought, we needed diversity in the way that we represented our city,” she said.

Jesse Leeser is the only deputy chief in the Akron Police Department right now, and he was also the other candidate for the chief of police position. Malik said he plans to expand the plan to offer something similar to the city’s captains and lieutenants as well. Hill explained it could be a good opportunity for those officers.

“I think it also allows individuals to look at where they are, look at their mindset, look at what they brought to the table and give them the opportunity to do something different,” she said.

Chief Harding emphasized these buyouts are completely voluntary. Hill explained she hopes this could spark change for Akron, something that she believes they have needed for a while.

“The trauma that was created after what happened with Jayland Walker. If you want to fix it, let’s look at how we can fix it together. This is one way of helping to heal and to fix some of those issues,” she said.