Gainey's choice of Ragland as Pittsburgh's top cop irks some on City Council

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey on Friday nominated Christopher Ragland, the city’s acting police chief, to run the department on a permanent basis.

The nomination will move to City Council for approval as the mayor seeks to steady a department buffeted by upheaval at the top and staffing woes.

Ragland, 53, of Downtown, is a 30-year veteran officer who has been leading the bureau since Larry Scirotto, the former chief, resigned in November amid controversy over his plans to referee NCAA college basketball games while serving as chief.

“Acting Chief Ragland has demonstrated the ability to lead the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police with a commitment to moving the bureau in the right direction,” Gainey said in a statement. “He believes in unbiased policing, grounding his work in respect for each person that he encounters.”

If council approves his nomination, Ragland will take command of a bureau struggling to maintain staffing. While officials consider the force’s ideal size to be around 900 officers, it last week had 759.

Councilman Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview, said he wants to hear what Ragland would do to address the staffing shortage, recruit more officers and improve morale among the rank and file.

“The No. 1 thing I’ll be looking into is the morale and making sure he has the support of the police officers themselves,” said Coghill, who chairs council’s public safety committee. “I can’t tell whether he does or not at this point.”

Coghill recently spearheaded legislation that will allow council members to interview those nominated to be department heads and bureau chiefs under oath, a measure he hopes will improve transparency. Coghill believes Scirotto was less than honest with council members ahead of their vote on his appointment.

Coghill said Ragland will be interviewed under oath.

“I want to see his vision,” he said. “I want to know why the administration’s so confident in him. I don’t know enough of him (to decide) whether to be confident or not.”

Ragland has told TribLive bolstering the rank and file’s numbers would be a top priority.

Institutional knowledge

Elizabeth Pittinger, executive director of Pittsburgh’s Citizen Police Review Board, said she feels Ragland’s long tenure with the bureau positions him well to address recruitment, morale and improving efficiency.

Pittsburgh police officers often feel overworked and may be uneasy after their last chief stayed on the job for only about 18 months.

“There’s an advantage of Chief Ragland,” Pittinger said. “He’s been through the very good operational times and he’s been there through the less positive times, such as now. He has a good sense of perspective, the institutional history of the Bureau of Police.”

When Scott Schubert retired as chief in May 2022, Gainey launched a national search to consider candidates both within the bureau and throughout the country. Three finalists were selected and Scirotto — another Pittsburgh police veteran — was chosen as chief in May 2023.

That process, which cost $80,000, was criticized by many as being secretive, with a group of advisers meeting in closed-door sessions to advocate for candidates.

“That is not transparent,” Pittinger said. “That was not a system that worked to reinforce public confidence.”

By putting Ragland in the acting chief position for a few months and elevating him, Pittinger said, the administration chose a distinctly different path this time around.

Pittinger said it makes sense for Gainey to pick someone quickly and from within the bureau’s ranks. Such a move, she said, provides more stability.

Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, agreed. She said it seemed wise to move fast rather than spend time and money on a national search ahead of a contested mayoral election that could lead to a new mayor — and a new chief — if Gainey loses.

Councilwoman Erika Strassburger, D-Squirrel Hill, said it was a “prudent move” to choose someone from within the bureau’s existing leadership to take over the force.

“I can understand the desire to have some consistency,” she said.

Coghill, on the other hand, said he would’ve preferred a slower approach. He thought the mayor should have waited until after the May primary to select a candidate.

Coghill said he would have looked at other candidates inside the bureau, as well as at least one of the other finalists who were considered when Scirotto was appointed.

“I would’ve looked at many people,” Coghill said.

Councilman Bob Charland, D-South Side, said he, too, had questions about how the Gainey administration chose a candidate so quickly and whether officials considered other candidates to lead the bureau.

“I think it does beg the question why there wasn’t a community process to come up with Chief Ragland,” Charland said. “Obviously a national search was a waste of money, and I’m glad we’re being more fiscally prudent this time around, but I will have some questions about how the decision was made.”

Top priority

Warwick said she doesn’t know Ragland well but has had “nothing but positive” interactions with him since he’s taken on the acting chief role.

“He seems extremely supportive of the push to have more community policing, officers out on patrol as much as possible, doing things like ticketing cars parked on the sidewalk or folks running stop signs, other dangerous driving behaviors — and also officers connecting in the neighborhoods, whether that be with our small business owners or youth groups after school,” Warwick said.

Improving morale, she said, should be his top priority.

The chief is budgeted to make about $175,000 this year.

Ragland, a native of Pittsburgh’s North Side, started his career as a city police officer in 1994. He became a lieutenant in 2001 and has spent more than two decades in leadership roles.

He’s served as the commander of the Special Deployment Division and the Office of Strategy, Accountability and Resiliency. He’s led three police precincts in the West End, North Side and South Side.

Ragland also is co-chair of The Hear Foundation, a local nonprofit that aims to improve police-community relations.