Pittsburgh police detail policy on undercover officer drinking limits

Pittsburgh police leaders on Tuesday night detailed for the first time new policies regarding alcohol consumption by plainclothes officers, more than two years after a brawl between members of the Pagans and officers on an undercover detail.

The changes were made in response to the Oct. 12, 2018, incident at Kopy’s on the South Side. Chief Scott Schubert and Assistant Chief Lavonnie Bickerstaff detailed the changes to members of the Citizens Police Review Board during the board’s virtual meeting.

Perhaps most notable is a clear rule regarding alcohol consumption by officers who are on duty and investigating nuisance bars or suspected criminality within bars: Officers can consume no more than two drinks in four hours, Bickerstaff said.

“As we investigate nuisance bars based on tips or complaints … sometimes it requires us to go in so we can secure probable cause in order to advance that investigation,” Bickerstaff said. “After the incident at Kopy’s, we reevaluated all of our strategic plans, and we came up with some really good operational strategies.”

The incident at Kopy’s involved a brawl between four plainclothes officers who had apparently been consuming alcohol and a group of bikers at the bar on South 12^th Street. The bar’s security cameras captured the melee and the detectives – Brian Martin, David Honick, David Lincoln and Brian Burgunder – drinking for hours beforehand.

“It was not a shining moment for the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police with everything that went through the media and everything else,” Schubert said.

Four members of the Pagans were arrested that night. Charges were dropped, and the criminal complaints filed by arresting officers failed to match up with what was captured by security cameras. The four men have all since sued the city and the police bureau.

Bickerstaff explained that there are circumstances in which an officer must consume alcohol in order to remain undercover.

“When you’re in a bar where you feel there’s illegal activity going on, a lot of folks know who comes to those bars on a regular basis,” she said. “If you come in and you’re not drinking – or at least look like you’re drinking – then you will be looked at as someone suspicious, probably a police officer.”

New policy dictates that officers cannot drive if they’ve been drinking for such an investigation, and they cannot make arrests “unless it’s an emergency or their safety is in jeopardy.” Someone who is not drinking should be with them, she said.

“They’re there to get probable cause to make an arrest. They’re usually not there to make an arrest,” she said. “The whole purpose of them being there is to gain evidence and probable cause to come back and secure arrest warrants or search warrants.”

If an arrest is necessary, Bickerstaff said, there is a back-up team on standby.

“They will not be in a position where they won’t have support,” she said.

Bickerstaff said the bureau had been in talks with the Bureau of Liquor Control and Enforcement about training regarding baseline alcohol level testing for officers. The covid-19 pandemic has put that on hiatus, she said, and no undercover nuisance bars investigations have taken place since the Kopy’s incident.

As for testing an officer’s alcohol level after an investigation, Bickerstaff said that’s something she’d consider. She called it a “great point.”

No criminal charges were filed against the detectives for their role in the brawl, which was investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s office, the District Attorney’s office and the city’s Office of Municipal Investigations. They remain on the force but have been reassigned to other posts.