City of Akron Partners with Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) to Conduct Use of Force Policy Review and Public Engagement

Akron Mayor Shammas Malik has announced the City of Akron has chosen the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) to conduct a use of force policy review of the Akron Police Department and to lead engagement efforts with officers, community members, stakeholders, and more. The PERF team will conduct a thorough review of existing policies and procedures, engage directly with stakeholders, and develop a list of recommendations along with an achievable implementation strategy. The goal is to have the final recommendations by the end of the first quarter of 2026. The contract for this work is for $328,873. PERF plans to work with the University of Akron’s Department of Criminal Justice Studies as PERF develops the implementation strategy for the recommendations. 

“Over the last year, our administration has worked diligently to plan a thorough review of our APD policies, practices, and procedures around use of force incidents,” said Mayor Malik. “One goal of this review is to ensure that we are providing our officers with the best policy, the best training, and the clearest expectations for them to fulfill their duties to the residents of Akron. We also want to enhance mutual trust and understanding between City officers and the community. I am confident the team from PERF has the experience, skills, and know-how to conduct this review and engagement, and to provide the City of Akron with a list of recommendations which are actionable. My commitment is that this report will not gather dust on a shelf but will be used to guide our efforts for years to come.”  

“We are excited to move forward with this review and to make sure that our officers and union are involved in every step of the process,” said Akron Police Chief Brian Harding. “The PERF team has extensive experience in this arena, and they bring the knowledge and track record necessary to conduct this review in collaboration with our department and our community.”  

“We look forward to our work in Akron and applaud the city for reviewing its use of force policies,” PERF Executive Director Chuck Wexler said. “Both the Akron Police Department and the community it serves have a vested interest in ensuring APD’s policies and training are state of the art.” 

Engagement 

The City of Akron is putting together a working group to help guide PERF’s engagement efforts both internally with officers and externally with the community. This engagement working group will meet with the PERF team and Mayor’s office representatives to discuss the community engagement process.  

PERF has created an email address for anyone to send feedback, comments, input, or ideas to their team. Those can be sent to akron@policeforum.org. PERF will also conduct in-person engagement with stakeholders including police officers, members of the Citizens’ Police Oversight Board, councilmembers, police union representatives and more. They will conduct interviews with Akron officers at various ranks, and they will also issue a survey to all uniformed APD employees to gather their feedback, which will be critical to the process.   

Timeline 

The PERF team has begun collecting relevant documents from the Akron Police Department to begin its review. They will conduct an initial in-person site visit in October to meet with key stakeholders and initiate the engagement process. We anticipate sharing more about the timeline and public engagement opportunities as the process continues. 

Goals 

The City’s goals in conducting this review are to: 

1. Partner with experts in both policing and law to complete a thorough and comprehensive review and assessment of APD’s programs, training, policies, and practices related to use of force; identify inequities and disparate impacts, if any; and recommend other systems and practices, if any, for monitoring and tracking data in order to increase accountability and transparency;  

2. Determine whether APD’s current use of force policies and procedures are in parity with nationwide best practices and if not, make recommendations where needed in order to create new policies and procedures that are reflective of best practices as well as the collective expectations and values of key stakeholders, including APD;  

3. Develop an engagement strategy that fosters trust between community members, groups, and key stakeholders, including the APD; and 

4. If alterations are proposed to existing APD use of force policy, create an implementation strategy that is capable of being clearly interpreted, enforced, and trained on. 

   
   
   
   

Police Executive Research Forum 

Founded in 1976, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) is a police research organization that provides management services, technical assistance, and training to support policing and the criminal justice system. As a private, nonprofit organization located in Washington, DC with a staff of approximately 25 employees, PERF improves the delivery of police services and the effectiveness of the criminal justice system through the exercise of strong national leadership, public debate of police and criminal justice issues, research and policy development, and the provision of management and leadership services to police agencies.