The Citizens’ Police Oversight Board’s new rules may not be as forceful as it originally hoped for, but the board can now move to the next stage of its short but eventful existence after Akron City Council finally approved its proposal.
Council voted unanimously on Monday evening to approve the CPOB’s first-ever governing rules, which were significantly watered down compared to the ones City Council overwhelmingly rejected in December.
“The adoption of rules is urgent for all of our business,” CPOB member Bob Gippin told City Council’s Public Safety Committee on Monday afternoon. The board needs rules in place, he said, to finally make a job offer for its first-ever independent police auditor role and to affirm the already-executed hiring of the board’s administrative assistant.
In its successful proposal, the CPOB axed two provisions that Akron’s Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 – the police union – repeatedly warned would violate its collective bargaining agreement with the city. The board no longer sought to conduct investigations of alleged police misconduct at the same time as the police department, instead opting to only review completed investigations, and it said it would no longer enforce subpoenas to compel police officers to talk.
The FOP’s stance played a huge role for some key council members. Ward 7’s Donnie Kammer told Signal Akron in December he voted against the CPOB’s rules at the time because he wanted an oversight system the FOP approved of. When a new set of rules was presented to the Public Safety Committee on Feb. 12, Kammer said he wanted to hear from the union before voting.
Council members push back on idea they didn’t support the board
“We revised the rules,” Gippin told the committee on Monday afternoon. “Frankly, they do not reflect our policy views, but we’re content with them and will work readily with them.”
New FOP President Brian Lucey followed Gippin to the microphone. He succinctly laid out the FOP’s position: “We have no objections to the revised rules at this time. We appreciate the city for their consideration for our concerns.”
And so the Public Safety Committee unanimously voted to recommend the rules be passed. The full City Council voted unanimously, 11-0, to pass the rules on Monday evening.
Despite supporting the CPOB’s proposed rules, Council Members Jeff Fusco and Brad McKitrick spoke out about the concept that City Council hasn’t adequately supported the board.
Last Wednesday, CPOB member Brandyn Costa told Signal Akron: “We were told by one member specifically that they would not entertain our rules unless they had express consent from the FOP. … It seems to continue to be the same faction of individuals who are really just making this difficult, which hampers our ability to do the mission we’re called to do.”
On Monday, Fusco said, “There’s been some misconceptions made and asserted, really since the beginning of the process, with regard to the citizen oversight by individuals who will go nameless, that this council does not support civilian oversight of the police department. We want to get it right.”
McKitrick backed Fusco up.
“In regard to the meeting you mentioned the other night, it seemed like there was an assertion that council was making it difficult for the board to do its job,” he said. “But I will mention, and remind folks, that last March of 2023, that there were proposed rules that had come in proposed by the law department at that time and I firmly feel that they could have been worked out in a timely manner and the board could have been up and running a lot quicker than it has been because of that, because they chose not to,” McKitrick said.
“I kind of take exception to the assertion that it’s council because there’s a two-way street. Those rules were available, they chose not to go forward, and it took several months later for their version to come in.”
