Gainey says Pittsburgh needs more police after not hiring officers for 2 years

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - In the face of rising crime and gun violence, there hasn't been a new police officer hired in Pittsburgh for more than two years.

Amid his calls for police reform, many expected Mayor Ed Gainey would be one to defund the police, but in an exclusive interview with KDKA, the mayor unveiled his plans to form two new police classes to bolster their ranks.

The sound of bagpipes graduating a new police class hasn't been heard in years. Two years ago in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests, then-Mayor Bill Peduto told the last class to go home and put a freeze on all new police hiring. Gainey says since becoming mayor, he's conducted his own assessment and said the city needs more police. 

"We have over 260 officers who have the ability to retire right now," Gainey said. "They can just walk out the door if they want to. It's our responsibility to make sure we have a police force that's well-staffed."

In this exclusive interview with KDKA, the mayor says he's going to put on two new police classes. He'll be empaneling a class of new recruits in the spring but before that, he wants to form a class in the fall made up of experienced officers.

"The first class will be police officers who are already police officers who have trained in other cities, other boroughs and see if they want to come and join the Pittsburgh police force," he said.

In the next few weeks, Gainey says the city will launch a nationwide campaign to bring experienced officers to Pittsburgh with an eye to hiring minorities and women. Female officers now make up only 14 percent of the force and African Americans only 11 percent in a city that is 24 percent black.

Sheehan: "It's become a white male police force."

Gainey: "Right, we want to change that. We definitely want to diversify our police force. We believe with the right policing model we talked about, the recruiting tools we're working on right now, we believe we're going to have some success there."

Gainey says he'll be offering incentives but filling both classes will be a tall order. Cities across the nation are reporting police shortages and low recruiting numbers. The police exam for new recruits has been attracting only dozens of applicants when it used to draw a thousand or more. 

"We're working on a few initiatives. As soon as we get everything up and ready we'll be able to talk about it," Gainey said.

The mayor says he made his decision after meeting with the rank and file in every police zone. He says improved police community relations are having an impact on crime and we need more officers on the street.

Clarification: The city did graduate a police class of 32 officers in January 2021. Pittsburgh Civil Service incorrectly reported there had been no classes since July 2020.