Akron FOP president says union is willing to talk police reform

A representative from Akron's Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 said the union is willing to engage in conversations about police reform.

Speaking at Monday evening's Akron City Council meeting, Brian Lucey, president of the Akron FOP Lodge 7, said, "We are more than willing to meet with anyone, anytime and be a part of those discussions." Lucey said he'd reached out to Ward 8 Councilman James Hardy, but had heard nothing back.

Lucey was responding to comments Hardy made at last week's council meeting, when Hardy suggested putting a pause on talks about funding a new police headquarters until meaningful conversations about police reform can be held. His comments came following two use of force incidents, one involving officer Ryan Westlake and another involving officer Thomas Shoemaker .

Ward 4 Councilwoman Jan Davis said she would like council to open a dialogue about the state of policing in Akron.

Hardy supported Davis' statement, saying that until the city can have meaningful conversations about police reform, he would be voting "no" on any funding for a new police department. He encouraged his council colleagues to consider doing likewise.

Lucey said Hardy and the rest of council should tour APD's current aging headquarters before deciding to withhold funds.

Hardy told the Beacon Journal that the conversation needs to involve all stakeholders — community members, police and elected officials. He also said that as a member of former Mayor Dan Horrigan's administration, he twice advocated to study a solution for the aging police department headquarters. The study was unable to proceed both times due to financial reasons.

"I'm acutely aware of the facility needs for APD," he said via text message.

During Monday night's meeting, Lucey accused Hardy of being in favor of "defunding the police."

"Irresponsible statements like that will not attract new candidates to apply here," Lucey said, "nor will it help with retention. Thank you for making recruiting future Akron police officers that much more difficult."

Hardy responded that he'd gone door to door campaigning for Issue 4, a 0.25 percent income levy in support of Akron's fire and police personnel, and that he'd voted for the largest increase to the police department's budget in 30 years when he voted earlier this year for the mayor's operating budget.

Hardy said the reform he's talking about is a new standard for police-community relations.

"We need to rethink the whole thing," Hardy said, "and council can and should support that."

In his conversations with police and community members over the past week, Hardy said he's found people want more constructive conversation than the "us-versus-them" rhetoric that they're experiencing in Akron.

Hardy said that he and Davis have been talking about how to facilitate those conversations.

Davis said that she is not anti-police, but she feels there are "bad apples" who should be removed from the department.

Any conversations need to happen with the participation of the people living in Akron's underserved neighborhoods, Davis said.

"I pledge to work with the new union president and anyone else," she said. "Let's start having these conversations. We have to, because this has gone on long enough — and when does it end? Let's start being proactive. And I just encourage all of my council members to get on board with this. It's something new, it's something that can be done. They're improving in other cities, so let's just try and take a different approach. It's time."

Contact reporter Derek Kreider at DKreider@Gannett.com or 330-541-9413

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron FOP president says union is willing to talk police reform