Ex-Akron police chief used N-word, city confirms
City officials say former Akron Police Chief James Nice was forced to resign Sunday, in part, because of his use of the N-word.
Nice, who is white, said the racial slur in a private conversation not involving other Akron police, according to city officials.
During an interview Thursday with the Beacon Journal/ Ohio.com, Mayor Dan Horrigan and Provisional Police Chief Ken Ball condemned Nice’s behavior, stressing that it doesn’t reflect the values and mission of the Akron Police Department.
“One man is not the department,” Horrigan said. “You don’t let one bad snowstorm or one bad event take away from the good you are doing.”
“The standard is clear in our department,” Ball said. “The top guy in our department couldn’t say this and get away with it. That would never be accepted. It was so alarming and hurtful.”
Nice abruptly resigned Sunday, about 48 hours after Ball said he first learned of the racial slur, that Nice was allegedly having a sexual relationship with a member of the police force and that he may be involved in crimes involving his nephew.
City officials said that Nice admitted to using the N-word and having the sexual relationship but has denied any criminal wrongdoing.
Ball said Nice expressed to him during his admission that there is a “likelihood or a possibility” that a recording exists of the racial slur, but city officials say they haven’t seen or heard it.
Judi Hill, president of the Akron chapter of the NAACP, said that “it is unfortunate if he did use the N-word.”
“If true, the Akron Police Department did the right thing,” she said. “Let him go.”
On Wednesday, prosecutors in Summit County asked their counterparts in Cuyahoga County to take over the investigation into felony car theft and forgery charges against the former chief’s nephew, Joseph Nice. The special prosecutor also has taken over the investigation into the former chief.
Until Thursday, city leaders wouldn’t confirm exactly what Nice had said, other than saying he had used a racial slur. They still will not describe the context in which Nice made the inflammatory remark.
Ball said the former chief indicated he had used the N-word in a “unique environment,” influenced by a couple of people who were not police officers.
Horrigan said Nice deserved to be fired regardless of when he said the slur or why.
Horrigan and Ball said they had never witnessed or heard of any previous racial statements or actions by the chief before allegations arose over the weekend.
Nice’s attorney, Mike Callahan, said on Thursday he can’t deny or confirm that his client used the slur.
“There are no circumstances in which that terminology is appropriate. I’m not certain if he used those words or not. If he did, he certainly regrets it,” Callahan said. “He regrets the entire incident.”
News of the former chief’s use of the slur, which city officials alluded to earlier this week as one of several “derogatory remarks” he had made, also disappointed minority members of the Akron City Council.
“We seem to live in a time when people are more comfortable being racist,” Councilwoman Tara MosleySamples said. “But even if you’re feeling it, you can’t be a police chief and a racist.”
“It really flies in the face of everything we’ve been trying to do to build relationships between community and police,” Councilwoman Veronica Sims said.