Community organizer calls Pittsburgh Police Chief Larry Scirotto's retirement "unfortunate"
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A local community organizer pushing for radical changes in policing said Pittsburgh Police Chief Larry Scirotto's sudden retirement is a loss for the city.
"I was actually a little sad to hear it," said Tanisha Long, a community organizer with the Abolitionist Law Center in Pittsburgh.
Unlike past chiefs, Long said Scrirotto was willing to regularly listen to community organizers. Under the chief's leadership, there were positive changes to disciplinary practices and steps made toward better accountability, Long said.
"It's unfortunate is the best way to put it," Long said. "I was like, they really bullied this man out of serving as the chief of police and doing what he loved."
What the chief loved was reffing college basketball games. Doing so after promising Pittsburgh City Council he wouldn't is where he ran into trouble.
"My reaction is a bit of relief," said Beth Pittinger, the executive director of the Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board. "All this stuff in the past week has been unnecessary intrigue and drama."
She called it all a distraction.
"Neither the chief deserves that, the bureau doesn't deserve that, and neither does the citizens of the city of Pittsburgh," Pittinger said.
It is both the distraction and the time Scirotto would be away from the city that made leaving make sense, Pittinger said.
"The chief of police should be a full-time, fully attentive chief of police," Pittinger said. "You can't just do it when you're available."
Long disagrees with the backlash Scirotto has faced for choosing to officiate again.
"There's a part of me who's like, I really don't care what you do in your free time," Long said. "If it's your time off, it's your time off."
Long said she is not looking forward to the process of finding a new police chief. She hopes the next chief will keep up with certain policies and practices Scrirroto put in place.
"I think whoever looks to be the next chief of police has some big shoes to fill," Long said.
While in Pittsburgh, Pittinger said Scrirroto did a good job, but there was a lot to be done and there's a lot to finish now.
Less than 12 hours after announcing he was retiring, Scirotto was officiating an exhibition college basketball game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and Minnesota Duluth at Iowa. In announcing his retirement on Friday, Scirotto admitted he had been a distraction for the department.
Looking ahead, city leaders are figuring out if they will do a nationwide search to replace Scirotto or stay in-house. Christopher Ragland will serve as interim chief. City leaders are confident he could be a permanent replacement.
Scirotto was hired to be the city's chief in May 2023.
