Pittsburgh police brace for busy weekend with Elton John, Steelers home opener

Pittsburgh police are anticipating a busy weekend, with an Elton John concert and the Pittsburgh Steelers home opener.

“With the large events, there will be extra officers,” Acting Police Chief Thomas Stangrecki said Thursday, explaining the bureau is working with other agencies.

The department is short staffed, he said, and using “all of our specialty resources” to fill in the gaps. That includes community engagement specialists helping out at the schools and mounted units providing extra patrols in various neighborhoods and “problem areas.”

The police bureau currently has about 845 officers, Stangrecki said, which is down from their budgeted 900. The department started the year with 913 officers, but saw 68 retire or resign throughout the year.

Officials recently announced new police classes are set to launch in the coming months to train additional officers.

“Hopefully they will be assigned within the bureau within a few months of that,” Stangrecki said.

Catalytic converter thefts

During a press briefing, police also addressed what Detective Don Pasquarelli called a “dramatic uptick” in catalytic converter thefts throughout the city this year.

In 2019, there were five recorded catalytic converter thefts. In 2020, there were four. That number jumped to 171 catalytic converters stolen in 2021, and there have been reports of 182 catalytic converter thefts already this year.

The thefts are “consistent and somewhat equal” in all areas of the city, he said, mirroring a national trend in catalytic converter thefts.

Catalytic converters — which curb vehicle emissions — are made of metals like rhodium and platinum.

“Thieves target catalytic converters because they contain those precious metals that can be sold at a high price,” Pasquarelli said.

He urged residents to park their cars in garages or fenced-in, well-lit areas when possible. Home cameras pointing at vehicles can also help deter thieves, or help police identify and catch anyone stealing catalytic converters.

“If you see something, say something,” Pasquarelli said. “It’s the public — you’re the eyes and ears of the department.”

Violence

Officials also spoke about this week’s violence.

“It was a busy 24 hours in the city,” Cmdr. Richard Ford of the bureau’s major crimes division said, referring to unrelated shootings that left three people injured in the city’s Hill District neighborhood Wednesday night.

A 3-year-old boy was injured with a grazing wound to his head and a man was shot in the thumb in a shooting at the 2800 block of Centre Avenue before 10 p.m. Wednesday. The victims were injured in a dispute in an apartment and both are in stable condition.

Davont Spencer-Johnson, 24, of Brentwood, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person. He is the father of the 3-year-old boy who was injured, Ford said, and other children who were at the scene are currently in their grandmother’s custody.

In an unrelated incident Wednesday evening, police were notified of a ShotSpotter alert at the 2000 block of Centre Avenue. Around the same time, a man with a gunshot wound to the chest walked into the Zone 2 police station, where police provided first aid until he was transported to the hospital.

Investigations are underway in both shootings, Ford said.

Police on Wednesday also arrested Nazair Macon, 17, in connection with this fatal shooting of a 17-year-old and wounding of two others in a May incident in the city’s Allentown neighborhood.

So far this year, the city has seen 48 homicides. That’s about a 9% increase from the 44 homicides that occurred in the city at this time last year, Ford said.