Father of Fallen Toledo Police Officer To Run For City Council
Tony Dia hopes to bring his law enforcement experience to council with disdain for police reform.
TOLEDO, Ohio — Tony Dia, the father of the late Anthony Dia, is running for Toledo City Council. 4 city council seats are up for grabs following the arrests of Yvonne Harper, Larry Sykes, Tyrone Riley and Gary Johnson on bribery and extortion charges, but Dia is running as a Republican against incumbent Katie Moline.
Dia made the announcement this morning and plans to bring his law enforcement experience to council as many Americans become activists for police reform and council members pass police reform legislation.
Soon after the announcement that he had joined the race, reports surfaced that show prior convictions from 2014 related to a state investigation into Platinum Kisses, a strip club on Telegraph Road.
During a press conference following the death of his son, Dia said that local officials including the mayor, don’t know about policing practices and shouldn’t be passing legislation to change those controversial practices. He said that police reform isn’t needed just because of a few bad apples, which has been the defense from anti-police reform advocates and police unions.
“Politics should stay out of policing. City council, mayor, with all due respect, all of them know nothing about policing. They should stay out of policing, let the policing be done by the department that know what they’re doing. They have years of experience. Let’s not tie their hands with politics because we’re worried about votes. All that’s gonna do is — all these officers out here are walking on the eggshells now because of this and we’re gonna end up losing, God forbid, more officers. You know, their somebody’s children, their somebody’s husband, wife, their somebody’s father, mother.” — Tony Dia, July 6, 2020
