Akron Public Schools hired longtime Akron Police Detective Alan Jones as its new director of public safety earlier this month.
Jones, a 33-year police veteran who retired in June, will primarily be tasked with ensuring the safety of students, staff and visitors on all APS properties. He’ll also manage a staff of about 60 people, including school resource officers and non-police security personnel, and keep up with the surveillance and security technologies the district employs to monitor and maintain student safety.
“This is a significant responsibility within any school system in America,” Mark Williamson, a spokesperson for the district, told Signal Akron. “Security (and) safety directors have probably more challenges today than ever before in these jobs because of the way the world is.”
In the department, Jones was a detective with the Street Narcotics Uniformed Detail (SNUD) since 1993. The unit worked to combat drug trafficking across the city and at times coordinated with state and federal law enforcement agencies.
“The most rewarding thing about my job was just being out in the community and working with people,” Jones told Signal Akron. “I enjoyed that. I like being around people, I do.”
He will replace former Tallmadge Chief of Police Don Zesiger, who resigned in March. Jones’ contract is for one year, and he will be paid $118,000.
The people aspect most attracted him to his new role with APS, Jones said. The graduate of Buchtel High School and the University of Akron has been working in the schools as a school resource officer and safety liaison at after-school events for decades.
“I’ve worked with a lot of the safety team members who are in the schools,” he said, s“so I believe that bridging that little bit of a gap will not be hard for me at all.”
Disciplinary incidents mar an otherwise distinguished law enforcement career
During his career in law enforcement, Jones racked up a number of accomplishments and commendations. Jones was the first Black K-9 handler with the department. In 2023, Jones and the SNUD unit received the Akron Police Distinguished Service Award, and in 2016 he was nominated for the Akron Police Department Special Unit Officer of the Year Award. In 2018, he was nominated for the Detective of the Year award. In 2017, he was the K-9 Optimist Officer of the Year, and former Mayor Dan Horrigan designated April 4, 2017, as “Detective Alan Jones Day.”
Those accolades, however, are marred by two incidents that warranted internal discipline from APD.
In the most recent and highest profile one, Jones struck a handcuffed suspect during an arrest. He was found to have violated Akron Police Department policy in the June 2017 incident. It was initially recommended that Jones forfeit 16 hours of accumulated compensation time, but that was dropped to just eight hours.
In an interview with Signal Akron, Jones said he was tussling with a suspect to get him out of a vehicle and under arrest. After placing handcuffs on the man, the suspect managed to roll onto his back and was threatening to spit in Jones’ face, at which point Jones struck him.
“Cuffed or not, I don’t know what individual would let you spit on them and get away with it,” Jones said. “But that was probably the only incident I had.”
According to records obtained by Signal Akron, the suspect in the case was also in possession of a firearm and refusing to comply with police orders.
“We are always going to take something like that and ask any candidate to explain their side of the story, and it’s incumbent on our human capital department to weigh it,” Williamson said. “And those folks who are experts make the determination if it’s worthy of any weight or perhaps not a concern.”
Second disciplinary incident involved service weapon
The other disciplinary incident on Jones’ record was an accidental discharge of his service pistol during a 2005 undercover operation. According to the internal APD report, Jones was in the process of transferring his pistol from his right hand to his left in the back seat of an undercover vehicle. The driver came to a sudden stop, causing Jones to accidentally fire his weapon out of the right rear window of the vehicle. Jones told Signal Akron that the bullet hit an embankment and no homes or people were struck.
For this incident, it was recommended that Jones forfeit four compensation hours and attend a four-hour remedial firearms training course. In his new position as director of public safety at Akron Public Schools, Jones will be carrying a firearm, Williamson said.
“That [incident] wouldn’t be a concern,” Akron Police sergeant and acting spokesman Mike Murphy told Signal Akron. “Officer Jones has worked on the SWAT team for a number of years, so when you talk about tactics and readiness to do the job, he was among the top officers in the department.”
Jones said as a member of the SWAT unit, he trained monthly for nearly 30 years on both pistols and rifles.
Williamson said the disciplinary incidents were discussed during the hiring process but wouldn’t elaborate on how much they weighed in the decision to hire Jones.
Ultimately, the superintendent and others involved in the hiring process decided he was the best candidate for the job.
“We’re incredibly fortunate to find somebody who is so much a part of Akron and has been for decades,” Williamson said. “I think that’s a valuable aspect.”
Jones was also involved in multiple traffic accidents over his career that resulted in points being added to his license, but details of those incidents were not included in the personnel records obtained by Signal Akron.
“He’s a man of high integrity, high character,” Murphy said. “The City of Akron and Akron Public Schools are very near and dear to him. He’s always been a huge advocate for Akron Public Schools.
The role is not a typical 9 to 5 position, Williamson said, and will require extra hours given the amount of extracurricular and weekend activities that happen across the district. Jones said that people in the community will still see him out at games and extracurricular activities.
“He’s a very nice gentleman and has a wonderful disposition,” Williamson said. “I think he’s going to be very fun to work with and he has enormous credibility that he’s bringing to the job. So the level of trust we’re going to have with him is going to be very high.”