Penn Hills police Chief Ronald Como has been protecting Penn Hills for almost 30 years.

Beginning his career in 1996 as an officer in the town, the chief now is thinking about his next moves after announcing his intent to retire in August.

His last day is scheduled for Aug. 8.

Como, 56, said he decided to retire in order to preserve his health.

“I just need to do something with less stress to lead a healthy life,” he said.

Como has always lived to serve. He began his career in the Army Reserve in the early 1990s, later becoming a member of the military police.

A relative, Lt. James Mariano — who was an officer for the Shaker Heights Police Department in Ohio — inspired Como’s passion for law enforcement.

“He got me geared up in college to follow in his footsteps because he was like my big brother,” Como said.

In his three and a half years as chief, Como has led multiple initiatives. At one point, he had built the department up to 57 full-time officers, the largest municipal force in Allegheny County at the time.

“I did everything from scratch,” he said.

Under his leadership, the department also was one of the first in Allegheny County to begin an alternative response initiative. In collaboration with the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, Allegheny County Housing Authority, Monroeville Police Department and McKees Rocks Police Department, the Penn Hills department makes use of social workers on certain calls.

“When people are in crisis, they don’t always want to see a police officer,” Como said.

Penn Hills police are charged with answering all types of calls, including from people experiencing a mental health crisis. Having another resource to implement on those calls has been a “great help” and is becoming more common throughout the county, Como said.

“That took three years of planning,” Como said. “We mapped out every step.”

Another big change Como oversaw was switching officers from eight-hour shifts to 12-hour ones. After three years of planning, a 12-hour shift was implemented in March for a one-year pilot. Como said officers have been able to keep up with the hours while having an opportunity to have days off in a more frequent cycle than the previous eight-hour shift, which required officers to work six days in a row before allowing them a weekend.

“It’s going well so far,” Como said. “It’s a benefit to (the officers) family-wise.”

Como also implemented the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) Project. The program equips officers with tools to successfully intervene to prevent harm and to create a law enforcement culture that supports peer intervention. Como said he decided to do the training himself before becoming a certified instructor and including his officers.

“I went myself because I like to lead from the front,” he said. “I’m not going to ask the officers to do something that I’m not willing to do.”

The ABLE Program helps law enforcement prevent misconduct, avoid police mistakes, spot possible escalation before it happens and promote officer health and wellness.

“It has been an honor to work with Chief Como,” Mayor Pauline Calabrese said. “He stands in an elite group that has served Penn Hills well. He should be very proud of his accomplishments and innovations here, which have proven to the betterment of our community. He deserves a wonderful retirement.”

While consistantly making efforts to elevate the police department, Como said police work was constantly evolving during his years of service.

“There’s so many changes,” he said.

Respect for law enforcement and how people interact with police is one of the changes, he said. Another big one is how much the computer age changed what policing looks like.

“It changed police work — it changed society itself,” Como said.

He said the evolution between technology and its relationship with policing was one of the biggest changes he saw in his time on the force.

“We were one of the first police departments to have video in the police car,” Como said. “Before you had the small body cams, we had the car cams.”

During its initial introduction, the car camera footage was taken on VHS tapes. Each officer was given 30 tapes, and officers would load one tape into their car each morning before heading out on patrol. When it was time to reuse the tape, the footage from 30 days before was erased having been stored for a month.

Como leaves behind a legacy of service. He was the recipient of two Amen Corner Senator John Heinz Law Enforcement Awards for two critical incidents he handled while on the Penn Hills police force. He also recently graduated from the online program at the Northwestern University Police School of Staff and Command. The program aims to give law enforcement executives more training for a command position.

“It’s been busy,” Como said.

As he considers his next steps, Como says there is one thing he will miss the most.

“The people,” he said. “There’s a lot of people here that I’ve known for quite a few years. (I’ll miss) the interactions with them. Even though being police chief I’m in the office more, I try to get out and go to community functions. I’ll miss that — dealing with the people and talking to the people. … Just helping the people out, I’ll miss that.”

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