Status of staffing at Pittsburgh police linked to low morale amongst officers
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The city of Pittsburgh is reassessing its police force.
The city is out with the results of a staffing study done with the goal of improving the force. Pittsburgh Police Chief Larry Scirotto and Mayor Ed Gainey said they hope to take the study's results and use them as recommendations on how to improve the department and overall quality of life for the community.
"It's a blueprint that can be changed," Gainey said. "This is just a document that we have that puts us in the direction to get us where we want to go."
After more than a year, results from a staffing study done within the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police are complete, identifying areas where the department can improve and how to utilize resources properly.
"It gives me the ability to use data to inform my decisions," Scirotto said. "It gives me the ability to allocate resources in the appropriate manner. It gives me the ability to stand in front of men and women that represent the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police and tell them why we're doing these things."
According to the report, put together by an outside consulting group, Pittsburgh police's response times are "exceptional," but the study also analyzed proactive time — the time officers are patrolling but not responding to calls. According to the report, the department's proactive time is excessively high and suggests some patrol officers be allocated to other specialized positions.
Scirotto says while the study can be helpful, he doesn't agree with all of it.
"That's in direct conflict of how I think community policing should look," he said. "I believe it should be the responsibility of every officer assigned to our neighborhoods on all shifts, not a select number of officers who work Monday through Friday."
And while overall staffing numbers are currently low, Scirotto says they're pushing to fill all 900 positions it's currently budgeted for.
"The current staffing that we have keeps this city very safe on a daily basis," the chief said.
He hopes to take the report to help reduce gun violence, improve community-police relationships and an overall better quality of life for the community.
"We are moving in a direction that I'm excited about, the officers I talked to today are excited about," he said.
The last time a police study was done here was in 2005. The mayor says they've had the results of this survey for a few months, but didn't release the findings Scirotto was in a position to do something with them.
