Police body camera, head strike, chokehold policies discussed at Akron town hall

• The meeting started at 6:03 p.m. Ward 3 Council Member and Council President Margo Sommerville welcomed everyone and said this evening’s Ward 3 meeting would be the third and final Community Forum around Policing.
• Sommerville, Ward 4 Council Member Jan Davis, and At-Large Council Member Eric Garrett hosted the Feb. 19 meeting.
• At least three Akron police officers and approximately 60 people were in attendance. A meal was served.
• Garrett reviewed the agenda for the meeting. He said the mayor or members of his administration were initially going to present at the meeting, but that they were no longer coming.
• Sommerville encouraged attendees to sign up for city council’s weekly legislative spotlight emails.

Body-worn cameras among 2020 Akron Police reforms

• Sommerville talked about police reform measures the city has enacted in recent years, including the chokehold ban in 2020 and a city charter amendment passed by voters in 2020 that required the release of body camera footage from use-of-force incidents that result in bodily injury within seven days of the incident. She said the chokehold ban was passed unanimously by City Council and the charter amendment was passed by voters with an overwhelming majority.
• Davis recognized two members of the Citizens’ Police Oversight Board who were present, Juanita Elton and Christopher Weems.

APD deputy chief talks about body-worn cameras

• Deputy Police Chief Michael Miller gave a brief presentation about understanding the policy for body-worn cameras.
  • Akron police officers are required to turn their body camera on if they think they will come into contact with someone. Once turned on, the camera records the previous 30 seconds, but it does not include the audio of those 30 seconds.
  • APD has a discipline process to address officers who do not turn on their camera.
  • Nearly 90% of all police departments in Ohio have similar body camera policies.
  • There have been recommendations to change the 30 second setting to go back one or even two minutes before the officer turns the camera on, but Miller said any additional time added would come with additional costs and time needed for records requests.
  • The full policy is available online at akroncops.org
  • The officer should turn off the camera when they are no longer interacting with a person.

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Citizens ask questions about Akron body-worn camera policies

• An attendee asked who decides what body camera footage is released. Miller said the city ordinance mandates body camera footage from any critical instance such as a shooting be released. Records of other footage may be requested, and some people post these videos on social media.
• Another attendee asked what to do about officers who mute their cameras. Miller encouraged people to file a complaint with APD if an officer does something they shouldn’t.

Akron City Council Member talks about need for reform

• Garrett then presented.
  • He said the mayor recently signed a three-year union contract with the police and used the metaphor of signing a contract at a car dealership and being able to include add-ons in the contract. He said the mayor has the ability to add things to the contract, such as no head strikes. (Editor’s note: Labor contracts cannot be typically changed without an agreement between the employers and the union members.)
  • He referenced a depiction of the mayor, some members of his cabinet and other advisers, which was included in the handout and taped up at the front of the meeting room. The illustration has been controversial, but Garrett said the cartoon was not disrespectful and “there’s nothing wrong with that picture.”
  • He said clergy and the NAACP have talked to the mayor about police reform, but Malik has not made any changes. Garrett referenced a page in the handout with a list of contact information for the people depicted in the cartoon.
  • Garrett referenced highlights of the APD and Akron Fire Department expenditures from the Safety and Streets 2026 Budget, which was included in the handout.
  • He said the mayor has the power to tell the police what to do, citing that recently he told them not to cooperate with ICE.
  • He then referenced another page of the handout, which he said had a table of policies the mayor could enact or change that would not cost anything.
  • Garrett said he ran his campaign on ending gun violence and he’s working to try to set up a gun buyback program with a few churches, but he has been receiving pushback.

Suggested Reading

Security members at Akron’s hospitals now wear body cameras. Here’s what that means for patients and staff

by Lauren Cohen February 10, 2026

Town Hall event scheduled for Wards 6 through 9

• Garrett will host town hall events in Wards 6, 7, 8 and 9 in March and April. He said these wards don’t have many problems with the police, but that they will be affected by the money the city has to pay out in use-of-force lawsuits. A list of payouts for use-of-force lawsuits was included in the handout.

City operating budget discussions upcoming 

• An attendee asked if any of the City Council members present would vote no on the upcoming operating budget due to the police budget. Sommerville said City Council will be discussing the budget on Feb. 23.
• Sommerville said the city has never had insurance to handle use-of-force lawsuits.
• Garrett encouraged people to get out and vote and run for City Council seats during the next election.
• Al Jones, retired Akron police officer and current Akron Public Schools director of safety and security, briefly spoke. He said APD does a pretty good job of keeping its officers in check and weeding out the “bad apples.”

The meeting ended at 7:45 p.m.