When the City of Dayton locks down much of its downtown next month for a five-day gathering of international legislators, the Akron Police Department may be funding a team of its officers to be there to help police the large and potentially heated protests that the conferences frequently attract.
The APD sought permission from Akron City Council permission on Monday to pay up to $30,000 for eight to 12 of its officers to provide reinforcements to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, which will be held in the Southwest Ohio city from May 22 to 26. The APD will arrive May 21. The item was placed on the consent agenda, which will be voted on at the next council meeting on April 28.
Deputy Chief Agostino Micozzi told City Council’s public safety committee on Monday afternoon that Dayton contacted the department months ago for a “mutual aid” agreement to “give a little assistance” with crowd control. Legislation submitted to City Council indicates the $30,000 is coming from the APD’s operating budget — the money is intended for wages and travel costs, with Dayton picking up the tab for food and lodging.
“This will serve as an excellent training opportunity for our officers, and the collaboration will lead to Dayton reciprocating should we need their assistance in the future,” said APD spokesperson Lt. Michael Murphy.
Micozzi likened it to when APD sent officers to police the crowds outside the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland and the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
About the international conference
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly, held each spring and fall in different cities, is technically separate from the North American Treaty Organization but is made up of 281 “parliamentarians” from NATO’s 32 member countries, including the United States, Canada and 30 European countries.
NATO is a political and military alliance of its member countries. The NATO PA website states it “strengthens transatlantic security and solidarity by bringing together parliamentarians from across the Alliance to promote mutual understanding, democratic oversight, and trust-building through dialogue.”
NATO-affiliated conferences often see strict and controversial security measures in anticipation of widespread protests, typically by organizations and individuals upset by perceived imperialism and United States-backed military operations. The most recent NATO PA, held in November in Montreal, saw property damage and clashes between police and protesters rallying “against the complicity of NATO member countries in a war that has killed thousands of Palestinians.”
Akron City Council Member Bruce McKitrick asks during the April 21 council meeting that a resolution to spend $30,000 to send Akron Police officers to Dayton to provide reinforcements to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in May be placed on the consent agenda.
In Dayton, a heavily enforced so-called “NATO Village” security zone will regulate who can and cannot be in a 68-acre portion of downtown. Outside of perimeters, the Dayton Police Department has designated a city-owned parking lot as a “protest zone” and a public park is requiring a “First Amendment Activity Permit,” practices criticized by free speech advocates as a “free speech quarantine.”
While the APD has requested approval to send officers to police protests in Dayton, the City of Akron is in the process of revamping its own protest policing policies as a part of a settlement of a federal lawsuit filed by the Akron Bail Fund. The lawsuit alleged unconstitutional suppression of First Amendment rights, illegal mass arrests, and pretextual, or false, arrests of protesters who weren’t committing crimes, along with additional suppression of protests by setting off tear gas and smoke bombs.
Dayton was selected to host the NATO PA to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords that ended the war in Bosnia in December of 1995.
