$180K study to analyze Pittsburgh police staffing, how officers are used

Pittsburgh City Council has hired a California company to analyze the police force’s staffing levels and how officers are used.

The city will pay Matrix Consulting Group $180,000 to conduct the study, the first one done on the police bureau since 2005, according to Jake Pawlak, director of the city’s Office of Management and Budget.

The results will include “a set of recommendations about the number and distribution of officers in different functions and geographic locations, as well as the appropriate ratio of sworn officers to civilians in certain types of roles,” Pawlak told council members before their preliminary vote last week.

Councilman Bobby Wilson said Matrix Consulting has experience analyzing measures such as co-response, where responding officers may be joined by a social worker or another expert who is not an officer. Pittsburgh employs such measures in its policing.

Results of the study will help the city to better understand the police bureau’s staffing needs and the best ways to use its officers. It will be considered in upcoming collective bargaining with the union representing the city’s police, Pawlak said.

Officials said the study will not impact plans to create a new class of police trainees. Those decisions will focus on factors like the number of officers eligible to retire, which could dwindle the bureau’s numbers.

City Council voted 8-0 on Tuesday to authorize the study. Councilman Corey O’Connor was not present.