Chief calls clergy letter critical of police reinstatement 'irresponsible and harmful'

Akron Police Chief Steve Mylett is "disappointed and confused" by a letter from area pastors and minority rights leaders who have objected to his decision this month to reinstate the eight officers who shot and killed Jayland Walker.

"I pride myself on being a man of integrity," Mylett wrote in a Tuesday statement, which came in response to the letter of condemnation last week. "Having my integrity questioned by those I have come to know and trust is beyond hurtful. While I believe it is every citizen's right to air their grievances with their elected and appointed officials, to do so in a way that includes dishonesty is irresponsible and harmful."

The Oct. 21 letter signed by 43 community leaders — including Akron NAACP President Judi Hill and Bishop Joey Johnson at the House of the Lord, who also leads Mayor Dan Horrigan's Racial Equity and Social Justice Taskforce — accused Mylett of making the "dishonest" claim that he consulted with the community before reinstating the eight officers.

The officers were put on paid leave after Walker's death on June 27 and returned to desk duty Oct. 11. The Akron Police Department's internal review of the fatal officer-involved shooting has not been publicly released and special prosecutors with the Ohio Attorney General's Office have not yet asked a grand jury if any of the officers should face charges. Walker was unarmed and shot 46 times after bailing from his car following a crosstown car chase, during which police say he fired a single shot from his vehicle.

Akron Police Chief Mylett turned to councils for advice on reinstating officers involved in Jayland Walker shooting

When Mylett took the police chief job in Akron last year, he formed councils comprised of citizens who would advise him on building trust, partnering on crime reduction and boosting minority representation on the force. The chief said Tuesday that he consulted two of those councils before reinstating the eight officers.

One of those two councils met about a month ago at the North Hill Community House, the organization's leader, pastor Gary Wyatt, told the Beacon Journal on Tuesday. At that meeting, the chief spoke of reinstating the officers to help alleviate a staffing shortage.

Not everyone agreed with the decision. But no one jumped on the table and told the chief that the idea was terrible, Wyatt said.

"There might have been eight of us in there," said Wyatt. "And the conversation was going on and everybody was giving their opinion."

Mylett said 90% of the letter signers were not part of the conversations, yet they painted "an inaccurate portrayal of the content and results" of those discussions. Mylett also wrote earlier this month that the "consensus" of those conversations with "community leaders" was to go ahead with the reinstatements.

That prompted the 43 community leaders, including senior pastors and top executives at the NAACP and Urban League, to pen their letter, which Wyatt said broke the chief's heart when he read it.

Letter to the Akron Community by Eric Marotta on Scribd

Clergy in Akron met to discuss reinstatement, draft response

The letter writers accused Mylett of breaking a pledge to consult with the Walker family and their pastor, the Rev. Robert DeJournett, prior to making a decision on reinstatement.

"Not only did you renege on this consultation, you have, on record, said clergy and others supported your decision. This is not true at all," the pastors stated. "Reinstating Jayland’s alleged killers is traumatic enough, but you have also falsified your conversations with our respected spiritual and community leaders. Your dishonesty about your interaction with clergy and other community leaders only serves to undermine their stature in the community they serve. "

DeJournett said Tuesday that about three dozen people, mostly area pastors, gathered at his church, St. Ashworth Temple, on Oct. 15 to discuss the reinstatement and Mylett's justification for his decision.

Akron protests:Akron community protests after 8 officers involved in Jayland Walker shooting return to work

It was two days after residents held a "Unity March" in Highland Square in protest of the reinstatement that week.

DeJournett said members of Mylett's pastors advisory committee and community leaders committee were present at that meeting and told the group it was not their impression they had agreed that the reinstatement was proper.

"That's when the decision was made to come up with a statement," DeJournett said.

One pastor in particular, whom DeJournett declined to name without permission, offered a draft of a response to the reinstatement and demand the chief reverse his decision.

"He hadn't written his letter yet, but when we left the meeting we decided as a group that we were going to respond in writing," DeJournett said, adding a smaller group met later to make the final draft.

He said the group was adamant that the reinstatement was improper and those members of Mylett's advisory committees had not agreed, no matter how short-handed the police department is currently.

"How can the process play itself out if they are being reinstated back to work and the investigation is still going on? That's the disappointment," he said.

'I stand by my decision,' Akron Police Chief Mylett says

Mylett returned the officers to desk duty, saying the department was struggling at 40 officers below its budgeted strength of 470. The department had roughly the same number of officers (434) five years ago.

Mylett said Tuesday he stands by his decision, which "was not made in haste, and I still believe it to be the correct decision given the public safety challenges of the entire community. I stand by my decision, and I stand by my commitment to help build a stronger Akron."

One pastor who advised the chief said he was unwilling to discuss the conversation until he could find words that would heal and not further divide the community. Wyatt said he offered his opinion at the private meeting with the chief, giving his perspective as a community activist, lifelong Akron resident and retired manager who oversaw the Wolf Ledges office at the United States Postal Service.

"I don't think you want them sitting at home," Wyatt said of balancing the need for more officers to fight crime with the pain of the Walker family and demands of accountability from the community. "You know what I'm saying, even though this case is way greater than that? You're talking about somebody's life. Now, I understand that that's somebody's life. But at the same time, you got to look at our city."

Wyatt said he is friends with DeJournett and other pastors who signed the letter.

"I like them all, my other pastors," said Wyatt, who added that he has no congregation, receives no grant funding, doesn't rely on tithings and, therefore, can speak his mind. "But they're not gonna get me caught up in the middle of some mess."

He said the community needs to focus not only on the Jayland Walker shooting but on realities the community is facing, especially "when we got Black people getting killed every other day."

Wyatt praised the chief for boosting minority hiring and taking hundreds of guns off the street, though confiscations are down from last year with gun-related crimes also dropping.

"He did all this in the last two years. It takes a lifetime to do what he has done," Wyatt said. "He's got the backing of the mayor. Everybody's on board. Everything was looking good, but this Jayland Walker mess has divided a whole lot of people. And I'm not going to allow it to divide the people supporting me."

"The city is gonna move on," he continued. "This too shall pass. And there's gonna be a whole lot of people who don't speak to each other after this, particularly Black people."

'Everything that they've asked the community to do, we've done,' Akron pastor says

Stacey Jenkins, senior pastor at House of Prayer for All People, signed the letter condemning the chief. So did enough clergy to cover most of the city, he said.

Jenkins said the decision to reinstate before the Ohio Bureau of Investigation (BCI) has wrapped up and released its external investigation gives the impression that officers did nothing wrong in killing Walker.

"And so, no matter who he spoke with, it's still wrong," said Jenkins. "It still seems as though it's a slap in the face to the Walker family.

"But it goes against the very things that we're trying to have here in our community: of hope, of peace and reconciliation. Everything that they've asked the community to do, we've done. They've asked us to wait patiently. They've asked us to accept that officers are being a little aggressive. They asked us to accept officers not wearing badges anymore. They've asked us to accept BCI to do the right thing and give a fair judgment of the facts. And we're waiting. But it seems like it's only one side because nothing is happening from the chief's perspective or from that side shows any compassion for this family."

Reporter Doug Livingston can be reached at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3792. Eric Marotta can be reached at emarotta@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarottaEric.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jayland Walker death: Akron police chief responds to critical letter