Pittsburgh Police Chief Laments Police Shortage
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Violent crime is on the rise in American cities with the number of homicides up dramatically in towns like Milwaukee, St. Louis and Baltimore.
Here in Pittsburgh, Police Chief Cameron McLay says there have been fewer year-to-date fatal shootings.
"While we've got problems, while there is violence, it's not as bad as what you're seeing nationally," Chief McLay says.
Still, he concedes that's no cause for celebration. To keep a lid of crime, he'd like to increase the number of police, especially community police. But Chief McLay says he has too few officers to effectively do that.
"I'm comfortable in saying that we do not have enough officers to deliver the level and the quality of service the community deserves," the chief says.
Including a police class that won't graduate until December, police staffing stands at 824 officers. That's the lowest it's been in a decade, and far below the budgeted number of 892.
Councilwoman Darlene Harris says council has budgeted for a full complement of officers, but the city hasn't hired them quickly enough to keep pace with retirements and those officers leaving the city for suburban departments.
"The money is there," says Harris. "Is it just being used as a slush fund for at the end of the year to go back into the general budget?"
Chief McLay says the bureau is doing the best it can with what it has.
"I would certainly like for us to have more officers; but in the meantime, we're working very, very hard to maximize what we can do with the officers we have available," said Chief McLay.
For its part, the Peduto Administration says it is hiring police officers as quickly as possible and that the mayor remains committed to a full complement of 900 officers.
All parties agree that the current situation needs to be remedied.
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