AKRON, Ohio — With a late consensus by the Akron city council voting on the citizen's police oversight board, now the board is just two and weeks old and setting up a foundation. But there's a possibility they will have to make a decision in the Jayland Walker case.
Back in November, voters passed Issue 10 following the outrage over the deadly shooting of Jayland Walker. The mayor and city council were tasked with appointing nine members to the board by Feb. 27.
Instead, they were appointed more than a month later.
Now, community members like city council president Margo Sommerville are still processing the grand jury's decision not to indict the officers involved in Walker's shooting.
“Yesterday was tough. Because for so long, we hoped and we prayed that there would be some sense of accountability. And yesterday, we didn't see that,” said Councilwoman Sommerville.
Sommerville, like many, hurts for her community and the Walker family. She said this is another reminder of the work that needs to be done in Akron. But what gives her hope is that two and half weeks ago, the council finally came to a consensus on the Citizens Police Oversight review board.
“Where we could look at our practices and our policies and see how we can modernize them and update them,” said Sommerville.
Kemp Boyd, the chair of the citizen's police oversight board, said the council was supposed to vote on the seats by Feb. 27, per the charter. Instead, they made the decision more than a month later, which set the board back.
“Right now, we're living in this in this kind of place to where there is distrust in all things city, right, and so the last thing you want is to start late,” said Boyd.
With the Jayland Walker grand jury news, Kemp Boyd feels the importance of their new roles.
“I think that we feel a certain sense of responsibility, I think, to the city to the community to the citizens, but I think also to the police department as well,” said Boyd.
Right now, they are communicating with oversight boards in other states, learning what their role entails and the power the charter gives them.
“We're just all kind of new to this. So, we're still walking through what kind of the process and procedure is going to look like before we can really delve into that,” said Boyd.
Their goal is to make the change that prevents another situation like Jayland Walker’s from happening in Akron.
“I think there is the practical need of repairing and rebuilding trust, trust between the community trust between this police department,” said Boyd.
After the internal investigation into the officers’ actions to see if they violated any procedure, those findings will be given to the police auditor; as of now, it is unclear what role the advisory board will play.
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