text: AKRON, Ohio -- After police officers killed people in Missouri, New York and Cleveland, Akron is distributing cards to middle and high school students to advise citizens on how to behave when stopped by police. 
   
   The palm card, which reads "You and the Law", is the product of the Akron PeaceMakers, Mayor Don Plusquellic's anti-crime and violence group of Akron-area high school students. The card has 15 bullet points, some of which tell the reader to engage politely with officers, i.e. "Don't bad mouth police." Others which provide more direct advice, such as "Answer all questions pertaining to your identity," and "Stay in the driver's seat with both hands in sight on the steering wheel." 
   
   A quote at the top of the flier says "The easiest way to avoid conflict with law enforcement officials is simply to stay out of trouble." 
   
   PeaceMakers President and STEM High School Junior Myia Culbreath helped present the cards to the media at Akron City Council chambers Wednesday. She said the group was sparked to create the cards after the death of Tamir Rice. Protestors in Cleveland and Akron took to the streets in November when a Cleveland police officer shot and killed 13-year-old Tamir while he was playing with an airsoft-type gun in a park. 
   
   "After the unfortunate incidents in Ferguson (Missouri), New York and Cleveland, we the Akron PeaceMakers were waiting for something positive to come out of it," said Akron STEM High School Junior Myia Culbreath, the group's president. "Our thought was, we all have an obligation to educate one another in these matters." 
   
   Plusquellic stood in front of a group of PeaceMakers Wednesday to unveil the card, which will first be distributed to Akron Public School students. 
   
   "A lot of this is so common sensical, but some people don't think about 'Oh what happens when I reach in for my license,'" Plusquellic said. 
   
   The Peacemakers conceived the cards two weeks ago, Plusquellic said, and were advised by Akron Assistant Police Chief Charles Brown and retired police Sergeant Willa Keith. 
   
   The pamphlets have personal significance for Billy Soule, who directs the PeaceMakers assistant to the mayor for community relations. Soule's son was carrying a toy gun years ago when he was stopped by police at Rolling Acres Mall. 
   
   "I thought my message (to him) went through, but it didn't," Soule said. "Officers surrounded the boys with guns drawn and told them to go down to the ground. My son is alive today because he listened." 
   
   The cards will first be distributed to schools, Soule said, but will also be distributed to churches, community houses, block watch groups and board meetings. 
   
   "We want to get these cards into the hands of as many people as possible," Soule said. ||||| For Students In Ohio, A Crib Sheet For Interacting With Police 
   
   Enlarge this image toggle caption M.L. Schultze /WKSU M.L. Schultze /WKSU 
   
   This week, every middle and high school student in Akron, Ohio, is getting a glossy, two-sided card giving them suggestions for dealing with police. 
   
   It's a collaboration between an anti-violence youth group and the city's police department. 
   
   The "You and the Law" cards begin with the big picture: Stay out of trouble. And then a rapid succession of 15 points — control your emotions, answer questions about your identity, put your hands on the steering wheel in plain sight. 
   
   The back of the card advises students to report police misconduct and includes phone numbers to call. 
   
   The youth group is known as Akron PeaceMakers. Member Devin Clark says it raised $1,500 to print 50,000 of the cards. 
   
   "When they get put in the situation, they're going to look back at that card and be like, 'Wow. You know, that helped when I actually read that.' It'll put them in a better position," Clark says. 
   
   The cards are getting lots of praise from adults, but they're now heading out to a tougher audience. 
   
   At Firestone High School on the city's northwest side, the reaction is largely one of interest, with some debate over the responsibility of officers in encounters. 
   
   Student Rachel Cooke says it's important that the cards recognize that police can be the transgressors. 
   
   "I'm not saying that all cops are bad, but there are cops that are drunk on their power, I would say. So I think that it holds them responsible so they can stay in line," Cooke says. "They have to obey the law just like we do." 
   
   In a quieter spot across from the cafeteria, Ryan Hall says he expects and welcomes the debate — better in a high school cafeteria than on the street. 
   
   "This is almost a preventative measure," Hall says. "In many cases it was a small situation that has escalated to end up being a much larger situation." 
   
   The idea for the cards came from a meeting in December, soon after police in nearby Cleveland shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice on a playground. 
   
   Billy Soule is Akron's liaison with the PeaceMakers. He says the kids wanted to see more than protests. 
   
   "We were hoping that someone within the community would say, 'We need a mechanism to tell our kids what to do,' " Soule says. 
   
   So the kids did it themselves. 
   
   Though some argue the cards go too far in supporting the police point of view, these kids disagree. They say it was crucial that the cards also include advice to document and report police misconduct. 
   
   Ryan Hall says it's a matter of letting people know they have options. "People can feel as if they're powerless against police because they are the police — they're put in a position of authority," Hall says. "Instead of cussing him out, I can just say, 'OK. Let me calm down,' and then at a later time, call the police station." 
   
   Willa Keith, a retired Akron police sergeant who works with the group, says it's about building trust. 
   
   "We are all working for the same goal. We want peace in the city, we want harmony, we want to live the best lives that we can," Keith says. 
   
   The Akron group plans to eventually distribute the cards to adults and to possibly extend the program internationally. 
   
   Gary, Ind., Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson, who chairs the U.S. Conference of Mayors Working Group of Mayors and Police Chiefs, says mayors across the country are desperate to find ways to bridge police-citizen divides in their communities — and she and others are looking at this approach as one way to do that.
target: – Not long after 12-year-old Tamir Rice was killed by police in Cleveland in November, a group of students in nearby Akron decided protests weren't enough. So the Akron PeaceMakers, an anti-violence youth group, brainstormed with the local PD to come up with a double-sided crib sheet of tips for kids to follow when interacting with cops, NPR reports. The "You and the Law" cards, set to be doled out to all Akron middle school and high school students—and possibly to adults, and internationally, in the future—feature 15 bullet points outlining "basic rights and responsibilities," as well as suggestions to ensure safety during an encounter. "Do not 'bad-mouth' or walk away from the law-enforcement officials," "control your emotions," and "do not resist arrest for any reason" are some of the tips. The top of each card mentions the "easiest way to avoid conflict with law enforcement officials is simply to stay out of trouble." The cards have sparked a debate over whether the police are escaping their own responsibility in confrontations, NPR notes. But the kids involved say the point is to de-escalate the situation, not let cops off the hook—and there are phone numbers on the back to report police misconduct. "Instead of cussing [a police officer] out, I can just say, 'OK. Let me calm down,' and then at a later time, call the police station," one student tells NPR. Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic says the cards serve as a common-sense refresher. "Some people don't think about 'Oh, what happens when I reach in for my license,'" he said at a presentation of the cards, per Cleveland.com. Billy Soule, whose son was stopped by cops years ago with a toy gun, works with the youth group as a city rep. "Officers surrounded the boys with guns drawn and told them to go down to the ground," he says, per the site. "My son is alive today because he listened."