AKRON, Ohio — Akron City Council has voted to put a charter amendment on this November’s ballot that would, among other things, create a civilian review board.
What You Need To Know
- Akron community activists gathered 7,000 signatures on a petition for a civilian review board
- More than 3,000 signatures were verified by the Board of Elections
- City Council voted to put the initiative on November ballot
Activist groups and some members of Akron’s City Council collected enough signatures on a petition to get a charter amendment before voters this fall.
During a special council meeting Thursday, it was announced that 3,300 of the 7,000 submitted signatures have been certified by the board of elections. That’s more than were needed to get the initiative on the ballot, which left the decision to Akron City Council.
City Council voted in favor of putting the issue before voters this fall, by a margin of 12 to 1. The charter amendment would expand the role of the city’s police auditor and create a civilian review board to review allegations of police misconduct.
Council member Shammas Malik, who helped collect signatures, said it’s an effort to improve community-police relations
“It is amazing to get over 7,000 signatures, 3,300 ballot signatures in just about a month. So that shows the intensity and feeling that people believe in this,” Malik said. “I think this is a reasonable, thoughtful step that we can take both to make sure that we have an effective police department and also an accountable police department.”
Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan issued a separate proposal for a civilian review board with members he’d appoint, with council’s approval. He said he thinks this fall is too fast for a ballot issue and he hoped to put his plan before voters in November of next year.
Council will vote on the Mayor’s proposal during Monday’s session.
