NEWS

Akron mayor says he'll fight gun violence with 'significant' money from federal, local sources

Doug Livingston
Akron Beacon Journal
Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan updates the community in a March 22 virtual town hall on Facebook.

The mayor of Akron intends to use “significant resources" from the federal American Rescue Plan to combat gun violence.

“I don’t know what that’s going to look like just yet, but it’s going to be a top priority not only for the chief but for us in the community,” Horrigan said, using his virtual town hall on Facebook Monday to plug the city’s national search for a new police chief.

According to Congressman Tim Ryan's office, the city of Akron will get an estimated $153,370,000 from the federal COVID relief legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden this month. Last year, federal COVID relief and spending cuts allowed the city to finish the year with about $17 million more than it started 2020.

For context, the $153 million anticipated from the latest COVID relief bill is nearly 90% of what the city generates a year in taxes, fees and assessments, which feed the general revenue fund. Now, the city has significantly more money to put toward curbing rampant gun violence. 

At 15 killings so far this year, Akron is on track to shatter the homicide record set in 2020. Firearms are used in the vast majority of the murders and about half of all suicides.

More:Tracking Akron’s record year for murders one by one

More:After record year for killings, how will Akron respond to increase in violence?

“One is too many and 15 is a tragedy,” Horrigan said.

“I think it’s the plethora of legal and illegal guns that are out there. I’ve never been one to say that people shouldn’t own them. But I think there is a significant pipeline of illegal guns that go around the city, and not just the city of Akron, it’s around the country,” said Horrigan.

The mayor said guns should be “kept out of the hands” of people who don’t have and don’t need them.

Horrigan agreed with Councilman Russ Neal, who advocated for a wholistic approach to reducing gun violence during a committee discussion last week.

Neal said it isn’t a police issue.

“He’s right,” Horrigan said. “It’s more of an everything else issue. How do we get people to have a better education opportunity, a better economic opportunity? How do we stop the flow of illegal guns into the community? And it’s a community-wide approach to be able to do that.”

Citizens wishing to give input on what they want to see in the next police chief and the future of the police department can take the city's survey at https://tinyurl.com/ckpafa83.

Horrigan said the city’s police academy is currently training 19 cadets, including 14 who will join the Akron Police Department, three being trained for Canton and two who will become arson investigators at the Akron Fire Department.

The recruits will free up officers to bid on a new anti-gun violence unit of a dozen officers funded by a $4 million federal grant in 2020.

Reach reporter Doug Livingston at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3792.