Dash cameras are coming back to Akron police cruisers this summer

Police dashcams will return to Akron this summer as one of the many police reforms demanded by the public since the June killing of Jayland Walker.

City Council voted 13-0 Monday to outfit 24 frontline police cruisers, as well as two prisoner transport vans, with cameras from Axon. The cost of the new cameras, $334,680, will be covered initially by a state grant and later by proceeds from a 0.25% income tax voters approved in 2017.

Social justice advocates and some members of City Council have argued that dashcams would have provided critical footage in the moments prior to Akron police shooting Walker 46 times. The 25-year-old DoorDash driver led 10 or more police cruisers on a crosstown car chase that ended with Walker running from the car in a ski mask. He was unarmed when his killing was captured by multiple body-worn police cameras.

What triggered the incident, however, isn't clearly visible in the available footage.

An officer said he tried to stop Walker on Tallmadge Avenue for an unspecified traffic violation and unlit license plate. Moments later, Walker allegedly fired a single shot from his vehicle, elevating the police response. And the head of the police union has said that Walker had suspiciously driven the same stretch of Tallmadge Avenue just moments earlier.

The view from cameras worn by officers inside their cruisers is obstructed by dashboards and steering wheels, though police did release footage from an Ohio Department of Transportation camera that shows a flash coming from Walker's vehicle. Police said that flash was a gunshot.

Outside their cruisers, the footage of the car chase captures only taller buildings, trees and light posts.

That's why Ward 5 Councilwoman Tara Mosley introduced legislation a month after Walker's death urging the city to bring back the dashcams.

"In light of the recent events surrounding the death of Jayland Walker, Council believes that the purchase of additional police vehicle dashboard cameras and body-worn cameras for use by all City of Akron Police Department reserve officers and detectives is warranted," according to Mosley's resolution.

Why did Akron get rid of dashcams?

City leaders decided it would be too expensive to keep the dash-camera system when Akron modernized its police units with the body-worn alternative in 2017. The dashcams were retired in March 2018.

Akron was adopting officer-worn cameras at a time when other cities in Ohio and the nation were still debating their value. The devices have since been held up as a gold standard by national research in best policing practices.

Protests calling for body-worn cameras, among other reforms, increased following the 2014 shooting death of Raupheal Thomas. Dashcam video captured an officer shooting Thomas in the back while running unarmed from officers who originally questioned why he was standing next to a broken-down vehicle in West Akron.

Police tried to subdue Thomas after slamming him to the hood of the cruiser. A scuffle with officers then took place off-camera. Body-worn cameras, the protesters said, would have captured it all.

A month after Thomas died, the Akron Police Department tested 30 body-worn cameras, piloting rare technology at the time.

Police cameras saturate the city

As Akron Police plan to roll out the dash camera system in 2023, officials have finished the installation of another camera system that has aided police since the final months of 2022, the FLOCK camera system.

FLOCK cameras aid police by capturing such information as a vehicle's license plate number, color, make, and model of the car, as well as identifiers including window or bumper stickers, or front or rear racks. These FLOCK cameras have assisted police in a variety of situations including finding and arresting teens involved in a Barberton carjacking, as well as a missing Illinois woman.

Deputy Chief Michael Caprez said officials installed 145 cameras by the end of 2022 and are now providing maintenance for any damaged cameras and assessing the usage and the long-term viability of these cameras.

"We're a few weeks removed from the last of the installation of these cameras, and we are currently evaluating these cameras. And after a few months of evaluations we can determine whether or not we need to add more cameras or move a few existing cameras to a different location," Caprez said.

Dash cameras coming by June

Axon, the company that currently supplies APD with body-worn cameras, presented council members with an overview and a demonstration of the dash camera technology in a special meeting last October.

APD tested the dash camera systems in two vehicles, Caprez said. Officials hope the dash cameras will be installed and become fully operational by the end of June.

"We're trying to figure out how to best transfer the captured info from the field to our systems here at the station, and we are hoping to complete this process soon," Caprez said.

Reporter Anthony Thompson can be reached at ajthompson@gannet.com. Reach reporter Doug Livingston at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com.