Pittsburgh council set to enact police reforms before summer recess

A series of police reforms shepherded by Pittsburgh City Councilman Ricky Burgess are set to be considered for final approval next week before council enters its summer recess.

Council also will consider approving a pilot program to divert low-level offenders from the criminal justice system to receive social services help instead.

The reforms have been talked about in earnest since the nationwide protests following the May 25 killing of George Floyd. Four Minneapolis police officers face charges in connection with his death.

The reforms do not include a proposal to defund the police, which has been one of the rallying cries of activists both locally and across the nation.

“No matter what people are saying, we cannot defund the police,” Burgess said Wednesday during a council meeting. “What we can do and must do is have a conversation about what right-sizing the police looks like.”

The bills council on Wednesday moved to be considered for final approval next week include:

• A ban on chokeholds by police. Pittsburgh’s officers do not use the holds now, Burgess said, but the measure would codify a ban on using them in the city.
• A ban on purchasing surplus military equipment for use by police, without approval by council. Pittsburgh doesn’t generally purchase such equipment, but some equipment it does own and occasionally use, including an armored personnel carrier, are needed, Burgess said. The vehicle was used in the 2009 police ambush shooting in Stanton Heights and the 2019 massacre at Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Burgess said. Council is working with public safety officials to develop a policy that guides when such equipment will be used. The city hasn’t bought surplus military equipment and instead uses equipment specifically designed for law enforcement, not military, use, according to Burgess.
• A requirement that sworn police officers have a “duty to intervene” when faced with a situation within city limits that doesn’t put them at risk of bodily harm. It doesn’t require an officer to “jump in front of a bullet,” according to Shawn Carter, a special assistant to Burgess. Instead it’s intended to prevent a situation like the one that unfolded in Minneapolis, where other responding officers watched as an officer knelt on Floyd’s neck.
• Stop the Violence Fund legislation that would enact a police hiring freeze and redirect $250,000 remaining in a budget for new recruits to programs aimed at reducing crime and violence.

Those measures are joined by a pilot program announced earlier this week that would direct $186,500 of Allegheny County Health Department grant funding toward a pilot program on the city’s North Side.

The program will divert people who commit low-level offenses from the criminal justice system to other social services programs. It is being developed in cooperation with the Congress of Neighboring Communities, a regional organization started by the University of Pittsburgh. The Law Enforcement-Assisted Diversion program will start on the North Side and is expected to be expanded throughout the city.

Since being introduced in June, the reforms have been tweaked in consultation with officials including Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich and Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert, along with public input through a series of public hearings that include one scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday. Another hearing will take place Monday that will include rank-and-file police officers and police union leaders.

The measures have the support of all council members, although some, including council President Theresa Kail-Smith, said she was waiting until all of the community and police input had been heard before committing to approval of them.

Council’s next voting meeting is 10 a.m. Tuesday, after which it recesses until Aug. 20.