Letter to the editor: Defunding police in Pittsburgh

I was appalled after reading “Pittsburgh council set to enact police reforms before summer recess” (July 22, TribLIVE). Councilman Ricky Burgess states “we cannot defund the police” and then sets in action a “reform bill” that defunds the police budget by $250,000, which was set for a new recruit class and moved to yet another series of social programs. This is by definition defunding the police department.

In addition to parroting basically everything put in action by either District Attorney Stephen Zappala (programs to divert low-level offenders from the criminal justice system) or the Pittsburgh Police administration (always had a ban on chokeholds and are dutifully obligated to intervene in criminal situations), Burgess is breaking zero new ground here.

Instead he, along with another proponent of defunding the police, Councilman Corey O’Connor, are once again simply stripping people in the poorer and underfunded neighborhoods who need the police of their most basic right as taxpayers: protection and safety. Burgess and O’Connor won’t feel the brunt of their “reforms” because they live in better neighborhoods, which typically don’t require the daily amount of policing that poorer and more violent neighborhoods do.

I propose a different set of reforms that can achieve markedly better results and cut waste. Since the measures Burgess suggested are largely already implemented by the police department and district attorney’s office, keep the new recruits coming and instead defund council’s bloated and largesse budget, and put those savings toward the social programs council members feel are so vital to public well-being. Problem solved!

Francesco Rosato Jr.

Hempfield