Akron’s police union president came out swinging as he approached Akron City Council’s public comment lectern.
Brian Lucey was upset because of criticism over two recent, high-profile cases involving use of force by Akron police, including a Kenmore woman who was body slammed before being arrested for resisting arrest and a 15-year-old East Community Learning Center student who was shot in the hand as he carried a toy gun. Council Member James Hardy said last week he may vote “no” on a new police station if things don’t change.
“Police officers are put in impossible situations every day we come to work just to be judged by someone who doesn’t have the courage to do our job,” Lucey said.
The lack of support Lucey said his officers receive is why he believes young officers are leaving the department to work in areas with a lower crime rate or departments that don’t face as much scrutiny.
“To the council member last week that encouraged others to follow his lead and vote ‘no’ for a new remodeled police station, that sounded like you were for defunding the police,” Lucey said as he looked up from the paper he was reading from to stare directly at Hardy, who stared back from just feet away. “Irresponsible statements like that will not attract new candidates to apply, nor will it help with retention. Thank you for making recruiting future Akron police officers that much more difficult.”
Last week, in the wake of Akron Police Officer Ryan Westlake’s shooting of 15-year-old Tavion Koonce-Williams, Hardy spoke about mistrust between the community and the Akron Police Department. Something is broken, he said, but City Council can’t hire or fire anybody or do many things people in the community are asking for.
“But we can do one thing, and that’s the power of the purse,” he said, talking about the potential police headquarters that City Council will have budgetary say on. “… Until we have some real honest-to-God conversations and we feel like we’re making some progress, I am a ‘no’ vote on any new police headquarters, and I would strongly urge my colleagues to think about what power we do have to leverage the types of conversations we need to have.”
Hardy on Monday night refuted Lucey’s contention that he was for “defunding the police,” noting he went door-to-door campaigning for Issue 4 in 2017, which increased the city’s income tax rate to help pay for police, fire and roads. Last month, Hardy said, he voted to approve Mayor Shammas Malik’s amended operating budget, which featured funding for the largest police staffing levels the department has seen in three decades.
“We are entrenched in an us-versus-them mentality as it relates to this, and we are getting nowhere,” he said, responding to Lucey. “It’s benefitting no one, and we are not getting to the place we want to get. So yes, I would like to see that change, and the only thing I have to put on the table as a ward councilperson is my vote.”
In an interview with Signal Akron after the meeting, Hardy elaborated on Lucey’s comments.
“Even someone like myself that has a track record of going above and beyond to fund the police, but questions, one time, one particular expenditure, can be deemed ‘defund the police’ is an example of what I’m talking about in terms of totally unskillful communication.
“We aren’t going to get anywhere with the [police union] president coming down after a council member questions a particular expenditure if they’re going to be accused of being a ‘defund the policer,’ just like we’re not going to get anywhere with folks who come down from the community and scream and yell at council members by name and accuse them of being the worst people on Earth. Both are gaslighting. We’ve got to get beyond that, and that’s what I hope we can do.”