KDKA Radio Editorial: Pittsburgh’s Police Problem

A retiring Pittsburgh Police officer talked this week with KDKA Radio’s Marty Griffin about the department’s staffing crisis. He said the number of officers is lower than it should be.

In a city of Pittsburgh’s size, around 900 officers are needed but the force is under 700 due to retirements and small recruiting classes. As a result, zone stations are closed overnight because every officer is needed for patrol.

Officers don’t respond in person to non-emergency calls like theft.

Work shifts have increased to 10 hours and there’s talk of going to 12. Officers are working more overtime which means they’re not well rested.

How could morale not suffer?

While the police chief is doing an admirable job with insufficient staffing, Pittsburgh’s leaders have a serious and growing problem to solve.

Law enforcement and public safety should be priority number one for the mayor’s office and City Council, but it is clearly not.