Mayor releases statement on Nov. 11 officer-involved shooting AKRON The Akron Police Department (APD) Nov. 18 released bodycamera footage and a 911 call from the officer-involved shooting incident that took place shortly after 9 p. m. Nov. 11 on Albrecht Avenue. That footage can be viewed at tinyurl. com/nhjukkrn. Viewers should be advised that the content is graphic. Mayor Shammas Malik has released the following statement: “Police officers do an extraordinarily difficult job. Every day, they are called into unpredictable, dangerous situations that require split second decisions. Our officers face circumstances most of us, including myself, may never truly understand. In this case, an officer responded to multiple 911 calls about a man pointing a gun and threatening people. I want to be clear I deeply respect our officers and the tremendous burden they carry to keep our community safe. “In this specific incident, BCI (Bureau of Criminal Investigation) will investigate to determine whether the suspect had a gun prior to the officer-involved shooting, but it is our current understanding that he did not have a gun on his person at the time he encountered our officers, even though callers reported he was armed. I recognize how difficult and confusing this could be for many in our community, and I feel the weight of those concerns. “This incident underscores why we are undertaking a comprehensive review of APD’s use-of-force policies, practices and procedures. Even when actions may meet legal standards, we must always ask: What can we learn? What is the best way to approach challenging situations? How can we improve training, tactics and systems to help us achieve the safest possible outcomes? We owe it to both our officers and our residents to pursue national best practices and constantly strive to do better. “Any time someone is seriously injured in an encounter with police even when responding to reports of a threat it is a serious and sobering event for our city. We owe it to the community to understand what happened and to learn from it. We can’t control every factor in volatile, high-risk situations. But we can control how we prepare our officers, how we train them and how we equip them to de-escalate, make sound decisions under pressure and return home safely. “I fully support our Akron Police officers, and I have so much respect for the work they do in our community every single day, and I also believe that there is always room for improvement. Whenever we can do better, we have an obligation to do better. I believe we can support our officers and hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards of safety and professionalism. Those goals are not in conflict. In fact, they strengthen one another. “As BCI conducts the investigation of this specific incident, the City of Akron will continue moving forward with its general use-of-force review. We look forward to reviewing a list of recommendations to achieve the best possible outcomes in future incidents.” Summit Metro Parks ranger department becomes police department.
https://www.akron.com/articles/west-side-news-notes-314/
West Side News & Notes
