The news of a steady erosion in the ranks of Pittsburgh’s police force is sobering. Your editorial “Pittsburgh needs more police” (Aug. 7, TribLive) points up the plight and rightfully serves as a call to action. However, the extent to which a reversal is needed should have been couched in relation to other police forces already operating within city limits.

Several universities, the Port Authority and UPMC are just a few entities that add to and provide levels of fully functioning policing bodies operating either entirely or to some extent alongside Pittsburgh police officers. They are not and should not be substitutes for the municipal variety. Their jurisdictional presence, though, does not make the current trend in Pittsburgh policing as dire as this editorial or similar news stories would have the reader believe.

Mark A. Sindler

Squirrel Hill

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