BRIAN HARDING was appointed to the Akron
Police Department on August 28, 1995. He was promoted to Sergeant on May 11, 2001. SGT.
HARDING is married with two children, a boy and a girl. His hobby is golfing. He graduated
from the University of Akron in 1994 with a Bachelor’s degree in Technical Education
and a minor in Criminal Justice.
SGT. HARDING is assigned to supervise the Missing Persons Unit and also detectives in
the Child Abuse Unit. The detectives are responsible for investigating missing persons and
child physical and sexual assault crimes. Since being assigned to the unit, SGT. HARDING
has worked to improve the efficiency of the day-to-day operations and the long-term goals
of the units he supervises.
SGT. HARDING began a program to pattern the criminal enticement incidents that are
reported throughout the city and is working on coordinating this information with
neighboring communities. Enticements are child molesters practicing and perfecting what
technique best works for them to lure children into danger.
The Missing Persons Unit works with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office on tracking
registered sexual offenders. The Unit is also involved with the
in investigating
Internet related crimes against children. With both of these agencies SGT. HARDING takes
an active role in the investigating process and the future direction of the units.
SGT. HARDING served on both local and state tasks forces to bring the Amber Alert
System to the State of Ohio. He testified before an Ohio Senate subcommittee on the
benefits of the alert system and the criteria that should be included for its
establishment. He also teamed with other members of the Task Force to educate other police
chief’s throughout the state on the benefits of the Amber Plan. SGT. HARDING’S
work in this area with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children provided the
Unit with a free state-of-the art computer system to help track and be kept aware of
missing children throughout the nation.
SGT. HARDING was appointed to the Summit County Child Fatality Review Committee. The
Committee is charged with investigating and reviewing all child deaths that occur in
Summit County. From this review the Committee then works on improving and educating the
public on ways to prevent child deaths. Past projects have included the "Back to
Sleep" Program and Shaken Baby Prevention programs.
