Is Akron ready? With Jayland Walker grand jury decision coming, city prepares

City and communities leaders are working together to prepare Akron for whatever happens after a special grand jury decides this month whether the eight officers who fatally shot Jayland Walker should face criminal charges.

Widespread protests erupted last summer after Akron police fatally shot Walker more than 40 times following a car and foot chase June 27. Some of those protests turned destructive, leading to numerous broken windows and other damage to downtown businesses and dozens of arrests.

Ahead of the grand jury decision, the city has been hosting a series of community meetings, reactivating an informational website and considering the establishment of a designated protest area downtown.

"Just having those conversations with people, I think, is super beneficial both for the city, but also for our residents and for our community members, to hear from us and understand that these are things we're thinking through," said Stephanie Marsh, Mayor Dan Horrigan's chief communications officer.

Akron community meetings prepare public for possible turmoil

On April 10, a grand jury will be seated to hear the facts in the case of Jayland Walker's killing by Akron police on June 27.

The city has been holding a series of meetings to educate the public on how a grand jury works, and preparing the community for the possibility of more turmoil.

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These meetings have consisted of community and business leaders, Akron police and representatives from Downtown Akron Partnership. Gert Wilms, Horrigan's chief of staff, and Greta Johnson, Summit County assistant chief of staff and public information officer, have been present at these meetings as well.

"We were just talking through what is a grand jury, what is that process going to look like," Marsh said. "Grand juries are very different from trial juries, so just trying to get some accurate information out to everyone involved."

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Last year, in the aftermath of Walker's death, Downtown Akron Partnership and the Akron Police Department set up a text alert system for business owners and residents in the downtown area to keep them abreast of the shifting landscape as unrest ebbed and flowed.

Using that system is on the table should things deteriorate again.

"Businesses have made that clear that they loved that" and the system worked really well for them, Marsh said.

It helped them, she said, knowing which areas to avoid, curfew details, and if there were events, like baseball games, happening downtown.

Keeping the lines of communication open between the police, DAP, and business owners is important so that information flows quickly to those who need it, she said.

Downtown Akron Partnership helps prepare businesses

When meeting with community and business leaders, Marsh said some expressed worry over the potential for property damage.

"Obviously, last summer we saw some windows that were broken during just the one night of protest that had kind of turned into a little bit of rioting later on in the evening, or the early morning hours would be more accurate," said Marsh.

The concern is that the same thing could happen again, leading business owners to once again have to wrangle with insurance companies to recoup their losses.

Kemp Boyd, executive director of Love Akron, said Downtown Akron Partnership President and CEO Suzie Graham has done a "phenomenal" job preparing downtown businesses for this moment in Akron history.

Boyd said Graham recently held two panel discussions with downtown businesses, drawing more than 45 business leaders.

"Suzie Graham and the Downtown Akron Partnership has done a really great job with bringing in someone like Rev. Ray Greene to talk about what does protest look like from his perspective, and what Ray Greene was able to explain is their structural process when they assemble together," Boyd said. "I think that helping to bridge that gap from the business owner to someone like Ray Greene, who is leading Freedom BLOC, was very beneficial to them."

City of Akron to reactivate informational website

The city has plans to reactivate the website www.akronupdates.com, where citizens can go for information on things like downtown road closings.

A curfew isn't out of the question, but it's not something the city is planning.

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"We can't do it ahead of time," said Marsh. "It is very much based on real time information — threats, for example, that the city might be receiving, things that we're seeing posted through social media or something that would indicate that there could be a level of violence. It's a decision that's made very much in the moment."

Designated protest area on High Street possible

Wilms said that depending on what happens, the city might set aside a space downtown in which people can safely protest.

"I think the likely location is probably from City Hall to the [Harold K. Stubbs Justice Center] right there on High Street, and make sure people understand the road closures and the impact it might have on them, to get to work, to get to school," Wilms said.

Contact reporter Derek Kreider at DKreider@Gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron leaders prepare for Jayland Walker grand jury decision