Pittsburgh Mayor-elect Corey O’Connor on Thursday will announce his pick for police chief.

His nominee will be tasked with leading a bureau that has seen rapid leadership changes under Mayor Ed Gainey.

During Gainey’s four-year tenure, five people have served as chief or acting chief.

O’Connor has not said who he will tap as chief, but insiders believe Jason Lando, who spent more than 21 years with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police before taking the helm of the force in Frederick, Maryland, could be a front-runner.

Lando was among three finalists when Gainey launched a nationwide search for a police chief, which culminated in Gainey instead choosing Larry Scirotto in 2023. Scirotto would step down less than two years later amid controversy over his decision to referee college basketball while leading the bureau.

O’Connor — who defeated Gainey in the Democratic primary before cruising to a landslide victory in the general election — has said selecting a police chief would be his “No. 1 priority.”

O’Connor pledged to pick someone who knows the city, indicating his choice would be a current or former city police officer.

On the campaign trail, he lambasted Gainey for the revolving door of top cops, which many feared hurt morale and hindered efforts to recruit and retain officers to a force dwindling in size.

“If you’re an officer right now and you have different command staff every day, you’re getting different directions from everybody, especially when you’re on your fifth chief of police,” O’Connor told TribLive ahead of the May primary. “That’s just unacceptable.”

The bureau saw its staffing numbers dip to their lowest levels since 2005 this year, with 755 sworn officers in August. The city budgeted this year for 800 officers, though many officials want to see staffing levels closer to 900.

The new police chief will be tasked with improving morale and bolstering staffing.

Whoever O’Connor nominates for police chief also will need to earn the approval of a majority of City Council members.

Gainey’s last nominee to permanently fill the post, Christopher Ragland, instead left the bureau before council could vote on his appointment. Ragland cited pressures and politicking from council members but offered few details.

O’Connor’s nominee is positioned to be the first police chief candidate to be interviewed by City Council under oath, a measure council members implemented after they felt Scirotto was less than honest about his intentions to referee while working as chief.

The police chief is expected to make about $180,000 next year, according to a preliminary budget.

O’Connor’s announcement is expected at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

The mayor-elect already said he will appoint Dan Gilman as chief of staff and Sheldon Williams as director of the Department of Public Safety.

Gilman, a former city councilman who served as chief of staff for former Mayor Bill Peduto, currently is chief of staff to the president of Duquesne University.

Williams, who served 18 years in the Army Reserves and Air Force National Guard, launched his career as a Pittsburgh paramedic and later spent 13 years with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police.

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