Akron Mayor Shammas Malik’s plan to hire a New York-based law firm and Chicago-based consulting firm to review the Akron Police Department’s use-of-force policies is on hold for at least a week as Akron City Council weighs the price tag and the potential efficacy of the plan.
In legislation sent to City Council’s Public Safety Committee on Monday morning, Malik and council members Margo Sommerville and Jan Davis sought approval to pay up to $768,000 to the Paul, Weiss law firm and 21 CP Solutions for the “comprehensive review” of the police department.
The city would use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money to pay for it, Deputy Director of Finance Mike Wheeler said.
“I believe it is necessary, I believe it is essential to making our community a safer place,” Malik told the committee on Monday afternoon. Police Chief Brian Harding sat beside him and said he was in favor of the review. Committee members decided to hold a special meeting next week to vote on the plan.
Former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, a partner in the Paul, Weiss litigation department, attended the committee meeting via Zoom and pitched her plan.
Lynch said she would lead “a very deep dive into policies and practices” of the department and highlighted both the intention to hold community “listening sessions” while invoking her and her colleagues’ status as attorneys to shield information gathered in the review from public scrutiny.
“Having this done through a law firm gives you the ability to claim privileges” to withhold information because there will be information “you may not want to be public,” she said during the meeting.
Lynch detailed that Paul, Weiss will lead the review while using 21 CP Solutions for “on-the-ground” work such as pulling documents and other materials while engaging with Akron police officers. Matthew Barge, a lawyer with 21 CP Solutions who was previously the court-appointed monitor overseeing the federal consent decree with the Cleveland Division of Police, represented the consultants and highlighted the extensive law enforcement backgrounds at the company.
Lynch said that they would hold four citywide community “listening sessions” and additional meetings with the NAACP, Akron Urban League, religious leaders and community groups. After six months of reviewing records and holding meetings, she said they would issue recommendations to the city “built upon” what they learned.
In an interview after Monday evening’s City Council meeting, Malik said he chose these firms because together they have “a level of expertise that is unparalleled,” considering Lynch’s policy experience as attorney general and 21 CP Solution’s experience engaging with communities.
“We can have all the best practices in the world and we also have to know how to engage people,” Malik said. “This had both of those pieces.”
‘That price tag is hefty’
Council Member Phil Lombardo said that the APD wouldn’t be “getting” much for the money and that the review would hurt the department because officers won’t want to work for a department receiving “so much scrutiny.” Instead of paying for the review of the department’s use of force and “pointing the finger at police,” he argued the city should focus on “citizen compliance with the law.”
Council Member Donnie Kammer said that the money could potentially be used to fund homelessness programs and wanted more time to think about it before issuing a vote.
“That price tag is hefty,” he said.
Committee Chair Brad McKitrick let civil rights attorney Imokhai Okolo, Freedom Bloc Executive Director Ray Greene and Akron Urban League President and CEO John Williams take the podium to voice their thoughts.
— Williams said he supports the plan “with caveats.” He said he wants a “unified” approach to the issue and for reports to not fall by the wayside like other plans he said have gone unfulfilled.
— Greene said the money would be a waste, given the city’s high eviction rate and the likelihood that the review wouldn’t dredge up information that the community doesn’t already know.
“At some point in time, we must act on the information that we already have,” he said. “… Right now we’re not doing anything but continuing to talk about what we already know.”
— Okolo asked Lynch why her firm wouldn’t be willing to do this type of work pro bono like other major law firms often do.
Lynch deferred questions about the pay structure to city leadership and said, “We work as efficiently as we can, always.”
Okolo told Signal Akron that the former attorney general “dodged the question” and that the work the firm would do could be done by Independent Police Auditor Anthony Finnell.
“Her billion dollar law firm could do this work pro bono,” he said.
On Monday, Malik emphasized the importance of collaboration with Finnell and the police auditor’s office in the policy review, as he has been emphasizing since he first announced that he would examine the police department’s use-of-force policies in October.
Finnell told Signal Akron on Monday afternoon that he was not consulted ahead of time on who would be conducting the review and only found out when the mayor’s office sent out a press release about it on Friday night. However, he said he welcomed the review into the use-of-force policy, which he has been calling for since shortly after he was hired earlier this year.
“It’s going to take more than the two and a half people in my office,” he said. “We’re going to have to have other players at the table.”
Council members Sommerville, Davis and Bruce Bolden joined Malik’s argument that the price is worth it.
“It’s a lot of money, but I see it as an investment,” Sommerville said.
The Public Safety Committee declined to take action on the legislation at Monday evening’s City Council meeting, the last scheduled meeting of the year, and plans to call a special meeting next week over Zoom where council members can take a vote on the proposal for the review.