In Akron, who should interview police oversight board candidates? (2025)

Kemp Boyd said during last month’s Akron Citizens’ Police Oversight Board meeting that he had asked to help interview candidates who may fill three of his board’s positions.

Boyd, the oversight board’s chair, has asked before. During two previous interview cycles for open seats, the city denied his request. This time, Akron Mayor Shammas Malik said yes; the City of Akron’s law department approved; but the executive leadership of Akron City Council responded “no” — it was “frowned upon,” Boyd said he was told.

Days later at an Akron City Council meeting, Boyd spoke during the public comment section, asking why his latest request was rejected. After all, he told Signal Akron, nobody can better understand and relate to the job of sitting on the oversight board than a board member, including conversations held in executive session that are not public.

He later said residents told him they appreciated his words during public comment.

“They felt like they were being spoken up for,” Boyd said. “Firm and to the point without trying to assign any guilt or blame towards anybody. That’s the spirit and the heart that I wanted to make sure came across.”

The issue marks the latest example of residents, who originally answered the call to repair the relationship between the Akron Police Department and the community it serves, desiring larger roles. Boyd envisions the oversight board one day running parallel investigations with the police department — in hopes of reaching similar conclusions. And when the oversight board disagrees with police investigations, he hopes more will be done to review cases further.

“There has to be something where we’re not just doing all this work in vain,” he said. “And it has to be a return on investment for citizens. They’re paying all this money in taxes, let’s just be real. We got a budget of $600,000.”

Boyd’s request occurs more than two years after Akron’s oversight board was formed via Issue 10, a ballot initiative, in the aftermath of the fatal police shooting of Jayland Walker.

Three members are appointed by the mayor — with approval by Akron City Council — and six others are appointed by two-thirds of council’s majority vote.

Since last March, when Anthony Finnell was hired as the city’s first independent police auditor, he has reviewed nearly 300 cases — disagreeing with less than 5% of the police department’s investigations.

In the coming weeks, Vice Chair Donzella Anuszkiewicz, Robert Gippin and Crystal Jones are scheduled to leave the oversight board.

City Council vice president: ‘On this one here, we just differ’

Boyd said he was told by City Council President Margo Sommerville that setting a precedent is a concern — although it’s not clear if it represents Sommerville’s views or if she’s being representative of the executive council.

Council City Vice President Jeff Fusco (at-large), who also serves on the executive council with Sommerville and Brad McKitrick (Ward 6), said he doesn’t believe adding the oversight board to the interview process is in the best interest of the city.

“Where does it end?” Fusco asked. “How about the Planning Commission? How about the Civil Rights Commission?

“I understand the reason why he would like to be part of it, and I know his aim is true; that’s for sure. There’s no question. But on this one here, we just differ.”

Why president of Akron’s police union may want seat at interview table

Brian Lucey, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police Akron Lodge 7, said Akron City Council is capable of handling interviews for positions with “noise” from the oversight board.

“That being said, if the board wants to participate then so does FOP 7,” Lucey wrote in a text.

Boyd agreed, saying he’d love to sit next to Lucey during oversight board candidate interviews.

“The more, the merrier,” he said. “It shows a sense of collaboration.”