AKRON, Ohio — The recently created Akron Citizens' Police Oversight Board on Wednesday evening approved its proposed rules on how it will proceed with overseeing police policies and internal investigations of the Akron Police Department.
The proposal now awaits potential passage by Akron City Council as early as Monday.
The advancements come one day after the city agreed to pay $747,000 in taxpayer funds to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by people who protested the police shooting death of Jayland Walker in 2022. Walker was shot 46 times by officers.
In the federal complaint, the plaintiffs accused Akron police of making mass arrests and using tear gas and pepper spray on both peaceful protesters and bystanders who had nothing to do with the demonstrations. Twenty-two of the 24 plaintiffs agreed to the settlement, while the other two have outstanding claims against the University of Akron Police Department.
Two other federal lawsuits remain against the city, including one concerning the treatment of protesters filed by a group called the Akron Bail Fund. That seeks an injunction to bar the city and its police department from interfering with peaceful protesters' free speech rights.
A federal judge earlier ordered the department not to use non-lethal weapons, such as chemical irritants, on peaceful protesters.
The Akron Citizens' Police Oversight Board, or ACPOB, was created in 2022 when Akron voters overwhelmingly passed Issue 10 — with 62% of the vote — following Walker's death. The Board's role will be to scrutinize police use-of-force policies and review internal investigations, however it will not have the authority to conduct its own investigations that run parallel to active departmental probes.
"When there is an internal investigation happening in the Akron Police Department, we will review that investigation," ACPOB chair Kemp Boyd said. "We can review it, but we're not allowed to administer our own investigation, as of right now."
The Board sought to adopt that authority to conduct its own investigations, but that proposal was struck down by City Council and the Akron Fraternal Order of Police last month. The parties claimed it would have violated the FOP's collective bargaining agreement with the city.
The Walker family has also filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Akron, the eight officers involved, former Mayor Dan Horrigan, and former police chief Steve Mylett. They seek "at least $45 million in damages, $1 million for each bullet that struck Jayland Walker."