Three weeks after the shooting death of Jayland Walker by Akron Police, city officials are considering two police reform measures: purchasing dashboard cameras for patrol cars and implementing a civilian review board to monitor complaints about police. An autopsy report released Friday found that Walker suffered at least 46 bullet wounds or grazes in the shooting which followed a car and foot chase.
Ward 5 Councilwoman Tara Mosley will introduce a resolution during Monday night’s meeting supporting the purchase and installation of dash cams. Mosley and police department staff are conducting research on potential vendors and cost of the cameras.
Once some logistics are ironed out, officials will propose new legislation, Mosley said.
“I thought it would be about a million dollars. I’m being told it may be a little more than that. So, the resolution is for us to encourage and urge,” she said. “The legislation will come after the fact, once we come to an agreement on this.”
Council members discussed the project in a virtual committee meeting Monday afternoon. Mayor Dan Horrigan and Police Chief Steve Mylett were also present for the meeting.
Akron patrol cars used to have dash cameras, Mylett, who was hired as police chief in 2021, said.
“Quite frankly, I was a little shocked that we didn’t have it,” he said. “They were very antiquated systems. I believe when the city adopted the bodycam program … the cost, I think, was prohibitive to have both systems.”
Preliminary information on cost and potential vendors should be known by the end of the week, Mylett added.
Ward 7 Councilman Donnie Kammer, who chairs council’s public safety committee, supports the project but said council needs to be proactive in getting the funds for it.
“I’m asking us to turn that resolution into some kind of funding mechanism so we can move forward with at least 12 to 20 dash cameras,” Kammer said.
The Black Elected Officials of Summit County, a group of local Black leaders including State Rep. Emilia Sykes, State Rep. Tavia Galonski and State Senator Vernon Sykes, sent a letter to Gov. Mike DeWine asking for funding from the state to buy and install the cameras, Mylett added.
Kammer is also hopeful vendors will reach out to council to show off their services, he added.
City officials were also briefed in the meeting on a potential civilian review board that would monitor complaints about the police department.
Council has been considering implementing a review board since 2020, and it was among the recommendations from the city's Racial Justice and Social Justice Taskforce.
Walker’s death and subsequent calls for police reform in the city have placed conversations about the review board back into the spotlight.
City officials, including the mayor’s strategic advisor Emily Collins, have been looking into the structures of citizen review boards in other cities to determine what might be a good fit for Akron, Collins said.
A seven-person board of volunteers appointed by the mayor and council president seems to be the leading suggestion, Collins said.
The board would investigate complaints made against the police department, and also conduct analysis of trends in complaints, she added. They would issue recommendations to the mayor, city council and police chief, Collins said.
City officials also want police to be actively engaged with the community, she said.
“It seems like Cincinnati and New Orleans tend to have really strong models that do that well,” Collins said. “They do a great job in making sure they’re available for public speaking and training and education.”
The review board would also potentially oversee and hire a full-time, paid inspector general and an administrative assistant, Collins said.
Mosley added that she hopes the board members would include community activists and parents of gun violence victims.
Whether the review board will be created through a city charter or new legislation has not yet been determined.
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