Akron voters have given their independent police auditor a tool he says he hopes rarely to use. Issue 13, a charter amendment strengthening the Citizens’ Police Oversight Board and the Office of the Independent Police Auditor, passed on November 3 with 57 percent of the vote, beating the ‘no’ side by roughly 9,000 ballots, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
The amendment gives Independent Police Auditor Anthony Finnell the power to subpoena records and compel attendance and testimony from private citizens and public employees, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. It also adds three community-selected seats to the oversight board, chosen through what the amendment describes as a civil rights organization process, and requires the Akron police chief to respond in writing to recommendations from Finnell’s office within 45 days.
“I think that it is a positive step,” oversight board chair Kemp Boyd told the Akron Beacon Journal. “The charter being amended makes sense. The community understands and realizes that maybe what they voted on close to four years ago isn’t functioning to the capacity that they envisioned.” Boyd told the Beacon Journal the board must now craft a community-informed process to choose and appoint the three additional members; before Issue 13, three members were appointed by the mayor with City Council approval and six by a two-thirds vote of council.
Finnell himself described the subpoena power as a safeguard rather than a routine tool, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. His office already had authority to request and obtain information and has cooperative relationships with the city and the police department, he told the Beacon Journal, adding that his preference would be to pursue voluntary cooperation or public-records procedures first. He told the Beacon Journal the defined 45-day response timeframe may matter most, because it adds structure and accountability to the recommendation process.
Supporters framed the vote as finishing work begun in 2022, when Akron voters created the oversight board through Issue 10 after the police killing of Jayland Walker — a compromise that cut provisions the community had asked for, Freedom BLOC Executive Director Ray Greene Jr. said in a statement reported by the Akron Beacon Journal. Mayor Shammas Malik, who had expressed concerns about Issue 13, said his administration will implement the amendment and is looking at whether added staffing or capacity will be needed, he told the Beacon Journal. Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 7 President Brian Lucey told the Beacon Journal he respects the vote but called Issue 13 ‘legally questionable’ if it conflicts with the police union’s collective bargaining agreement.
What happens next: the city must update its charter language, the oversight board and the city’s Law Department must work out how subpoenas would be authorized and issued and how the three community-selected seats will be filled, and council will weigh any implementing legislation — the first practical tests of an amendment voters approved by a clear but not overwhelming margin.