CLEVELAND — Teen activists in Shaker Heights have taken matters into their own hands leading a full on police reform effort, even starting a petition and collecting about 500 signatures.
Ethan Khorana, 17, and Sam Klein, 19, were door knocking in an effort to get Shaker Heights residents to sign their petition.
“We understand the value of police officers, but we also understand the value of social workers,” he said.
The petition is aimed to get a charter amendment on the November ballot to improve police transparency and accountability throughout the city.
“We need 664 signatures, which is 10% of the votes that were cast in the last general election,” Khorana said.
Khorana said the amendment would look to create a digital public records repository, establish civilian oversight, and one that hits close to home for him, increase the presence of a crisis intervention team.
“As a person of color, I have experienced it firsthand when family members would come and visit me and they are stopped because they don’t look like they belong. This is something that should not be happening,” he said.
Lisa Vahey is a Shaker resident and said one way or another, change is needed in this community.
“We have to keep moving through change,” she said. “I am proud of Shaker and community members who are supporting this and moving forward in this powerful way to create change that I hope moves us toward more racial justice in our community.”
U.S. Census data shows that the city’s population is diverse.
In 2022, 84% of all tickets issued in Shaker Heights went to non-Shaker residents, but Khorona’s friend, Klein, said those demographics aren’t reflected in who he sees getting pulled over.
“Looking over while driving and seeing the person getting pulled over is Black almost all the time, and it’s consistent and it’s stayed consistent,” he said.
But the city of Shaker Heights said only 16% of tickets went to all residents in 2022 and only 8% were Black residents.
In a statement, Mayor David Weiss said, “We agree that biased-based policing is wrong. That is why, for more than a decade, we have been providing our police officers with ongoing training in the areas of bias-based policing, race, and the protection (of) civil rights. What we don’t agree with are the PAC’s broad, sweeping changes to the City’s Charter that would result in a drastic reduction in the Shaker Heights Police Department budget, potentially eliminating half the police force and thereby making residents less safe.”
But Khorana said they are not discouraged and look to get there signatures submitted by August.
