Task force issues recommendations for reforming Pittsburgh police

A task force charged with coming up with avenues for meaningful change in the way Pittsburgh polices its residents released a slew of recommendations Monday, choosing eight main topics and offering dozens of pages worth of ideas and data to back them up.

“There were a lot of different ideas of what this group should do, what the mission was and what the critical issues are in reforming Pittsburgh police,” Mayor Bill Peduto said of the task force, created in June in response to anti-police brutality protests locally and across the country.

“They were given a blank canvas, and they were told to figure it out, to come up with the priorities, do the research and find the best practices,” he said.

The 15-member task force was charged with creating “a blueprint for real and sustained change and reform” for the bureau. The 47-page report lays out those recommendations, many of which call for budgetary changes and the assistance of outside experts and organizations. Eight subcommittees explored recommendations related to:

• Eliminating racial disparities
• Officer wellness
• Reimagining policing
• Recruitment, training, education and hiring
• Relations with Pittsburgh’s Fraternal Order of Police
• Transparency and accountability
• Use of force changes Use of tear gas, rubber bullets, flash-bang devices and other less lethal methods of crowd control

The report is lengthy and comprehensive, and you can read it in its entirety here.

A spokeswoman for the Public Safety Department said the department has received a copy of the report and the recommendations are being reviewed. She said Chief Scott Schubert will meet with community members to discuss the findings.

Peduto said one recommendation the city can undertake immediately is better access to real-time information. For example, task force members noted that while the Public Safety Department’s annual reports give some statistics related to traffic stops, it’s still lacking.

“Who was stopped, how many people – not just the driver, but passengers – that’s just one item that was discussed,” said Valerie McDonald Roberts, co-chair of the committee.

Peduto said that while there isn’t one particular item that stands out more than others, that’s one that has a concrete starting point.

“I think the conversation we’re having today around the data and the availability of information to the general public is something we can work on immediately,” he said.

He said de-aggregated information is already available to most city staff, and putting all of that information into an online dashboard will give everyone access to real-time information.

“Better information makes more informed decision-making,” he said.

The recommendations include re-outlining the priorities of the bureau, noting that while crime investigation and prevention made up a majority of the bureau’s function – 60% — it is “not an overwhelming majority.” The report notes that traffic stops and parking complaints represented the third- and fifth-most frequented call type last year.

The task force’s reimagining policing subcommittee recommends, among a slew of other things, reallocating funds from the police budget to support non-law enforcement crisis intervention partners, such as mental health services and community outreach.

A parallel recommendation by the subcommittee on eliminating racial disparities suggested that police expand partnerships in order to hand off some responses to non-serious crimes or non-criminal activities. The goal, they wrote, is to move “as many of these responsibilities to others or through hybrid police-social service response models.”

Many of the recommendations build on the newly created Office of Community Health and Safety, an initiative announced in June that will partner social services, public health and social work experts with law enforcement in situations where such intervention is needed.

Peduto said the city has partnered with the Allegheny Health Network and is hiring outreach workers that will work with Operation Safety Net’s street outreach program. Those services, he said, are being coordinated within the Public Safety Department.