June 20 Ward 3 meeting
Covered by Benjamin Rexroad (see his notes here)
At a June 20 Ward 3 meeting, residents had the opportunity to ask Akron Independent Police Auditor Anthony Finnell questions about his role and how he investigates police use-of-force incident reports.
Finnell was appointed to the role on March 15 by the Citizens’ Police Oversight Board.
The Office of the Independent Police Auditor tracks complaints about the Akron Police Department as well as the department’s use-of-force reports. He then evaluates the department’s internal investigations into them. Finnell reports directly to the CPOB, an independent body established by city charter.
Right away, a resident asked about Finnell’s role with respect to working with the police union and what it means for qualified immunity.
LEARN MORE about qualified immunity through Signal Cleveland’s explainer on this topic.
“The charter is specific on what my responsibilities are,” Finnell said. “My role in that process is to, again, do my review and submit my report and my recommendations. I can’t issue discipline. I can’t authorize discipline. But if I concur with the actions of the chief and the actions of the police department, that will be included in my report.… If I do not concur, it will be a report.”
Auditor talks about fired police officer case
He referred to his recommendations in the case of now-terminated Akron Police Officer Ryan Westlake. On March 1, Westlake threw a handcuffed girl into the side of his cruiser and onto the ground. Finnell said Westlake was “untruthful” in his report about the incident and his supervisors wrongly cleared him of misconduct.
“I don’t write reports for or against an officer or use of force with the intention of it going to a court, whether it’s a criminal court, or a civil [court] or an arbitration,” Finnell said.
When speaking about reporting to the CPOB and, by extension, the mayor’s office, Finnell said, “In oversight, independence is key. So you will always have a connection to the city government —– the city administration —– in whatever city you’re in, but you have to have the independence to make your rulings because sometimes my rulings or my decisions in my reports might not bode well for the city.”
He added: “I have to be transparent, I have to be ethical and just put the facts out there based on the evidence. So that’s where the independence lies.”
Finnell releases findings on three use-of-force cases
When Finnell stepped into the role, there were 300 cases to review, and he said he concurred with most of the rulings and won’t submit a report for them. So far, Finnell has released three reports related to use-of-force incidents within the police department. In two, he found the use of force unreasonable. In the third, he disagreed with the way the force was applied.
He referred to his second report, which involves Westlake:
“In this instance, I believe it was a matter of poor supervision at the minimum and maybe something far worse on the other end, but that’s yet to be determined. But there is a systemic issue where, I believe, supervisors try to mitigate officer misconduct instead of dealing with it head-on,” he said.
He continued, “And then there are some use-of-force practices that are questionable. There’s nothing in the use-of-force policy that prevents these practices. But nonetheless, these practices, in other jurisdictions that I’ve been part of, would be classified as deadly force, but it’s not classified that way.”
For example, he said Akron’s use-of-force policy doesn’t prohibit or address hits or blows to the head or face.
“By not addressing it at all in our policy here, an officer could inadvertently kill someone or cause serious injury and then that officer could face an involuntary manslaughter or even a manslaughter charge and they haven’t even been trained or taught not to do that,” Finnell said.
Finnell said he hopes to release a six-month report and eventually an annual report with all his findings.
In other news: residents learn about home assistance programs
Also at the meeting, residents received an update on the June 2 mass shooting. An APD officer said the police chief and Mayor Shammas Malik released images of a white SUV they thought was involved in the incident.
Finally, Edna Borders, vice president of Ohio NAACP, informed residents about Summit County’s Home Weatherization Assistance Program and Lead Safe Ohio.
Read Benjamin Rexroad’s notes here:
