During a panel discussion Sunday at the Dominican Sisters of Peace Motherhouse, four veteran African-American Akron police officers discussed the nuances of their unique roles at the cross section of two seemingly conflicting communities: African-Americans and law enforcement.
The panel was part of the Building Racial Harmony series presented by the Northeast Ohio Racial Justice Committee, which is a committee formed by the Dominican Sisters and Associates of Peace.
The panel consisted of Detective Bertina King, a 25-year Akron Police Department veteran; Sgt. Michael Murphy, a police recruiter with 10 years of experience; Officer Lloyd Ford, a 32-year Akron police veteran who serves in the Community Policing Unit; and Phillip Young, a 35-year police veteran who serves as the police auditor for the city.
Edward Gilbert, a practicing lawyer, served as moderator for the discussion.
He presented a variety of topics to discuss, including sensitivity training, the apparent militarization of the police force and recruitment of African-Americans to law enforcement agencies.
Each officer said he or she had to go through sensitivity training to learn how to interact with people from other cultures. They agreed the training had issues, though, like being too infrequent and not teaching people how to understand their biases.
“Sensitivity training is very real. I don’t think we do it enough,” Young said. “I think sensitivity training, for a lot of officers, is a joke.”
To combat that, the officers discussed how important it was for them to get out into different parts of the community and work with officers of different races and learn to understand one another.
“We should look like we’re a part of the community,” Ford said.
Getting into the community is feasible, but pairing black officers with white officers in the Akron Police Department poses an issue. Of the roughly 450 officers in the city, only about 15 percent are African-American, Murphy said.
To reflect the demographics of the community, Murphy said the force would need two to three times as many African-American officers as it has now. Yet, over the past few years, recruitment of African-American officers in particular has been difficult.
“The recruiting, in terms of minorities, has to be a little more hands-on,” Murphy said. “We have to educate them on certain things because a lot of the times, they’re only having interaction with the police when something bad is happening.”
While officers play a large role in fostering better community relationships, the panel also discussed the community’s role. They said citizens should try to understand what police are doing, while at the same time holding them accountable and reporting when they see an officer doing something wrong.
Gilbert also brought up the topic of Black Lives Matter. Though the movement was sparked by police violence against African-Americans, the panelists agreed it’s a sentiment that needs to be heard.
“Black Lives Matter does matter,” Lloyd said.
“I don’t think being pro-black means that you’re anti-white,” Young said.
The panel Sunday was continued from an initial discussion back in December. Conni Dubick, the previous co-director of the Dominican Sisters and Associates of Peace, said the feedback from the previous discussion was so positive that they held a follow-up.
“It’s such a critical concern … that we have a really good, strong understanding of what our relationship with police can be,” Dubick said. “We’re the folks now who need to continue to spread the harmony we’re looking for.”
The audience of 40 interacted with the panel and intermittently got to ask questions of the officers.
Annette Bailey of Akron said she attended the panel to get firsthand information from, and see the point of view of, police officers.
After the panel, Bailey said she walked away “knowing it takes all of us to actually make this thing work together.”
Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @Theresa_Cottom .