THE REPORTED FINALISTS—Larry Scirotto, Jason Lando, Ryan Lee.
Gainey expected to make a final decision this month
Editor’s Note: The original story, published in the April 12 print edition of the Courier, was incorrect. Larry Scirotto, who is African American, is one of the reported three finalists for next Pittsburgh Police Chief. The original story stated that there were no African Americans among the three finalists for next Pittsburgh Police Chief. The story below has been amended to reflect the correct version.
Finding a Black police chief in small towns and rural areas is like finding a needle in a haystack.
But in larger cities, Black police chiefs are easier to find.
Like in Philadelphia, where Danielle Outlaw is the chief. Or Troy Finner, chief of police in Houston. Until a few weeks ago, David Brown was the lead man for the Chicago Police Department, and Wayne Drummond is the chief of police two hours away from Pittsburgh, in Cleveland.
The City of Pittsburgh hasn’t seen a full-time Black chief of police since Nate Harper from 2008 to 2013. Earl Buford was a Black police chief in Pittsburgh prior to Harper, from 1992 to 1996.
And it appears that the next permanent chief of police in Pittsburgh may not be Black, either.
Multiple local news outlets have reported that Mayor Ed Gainey and his administration have narrowed the national search for Pittsburgh’s next police chief to three—Jason Lando, Larry Scirotto and Ryan Lee—one of whom is African American, Scirotto. Pittsburgh currently has a Black mayor and fire chief, Darryl Jones.
In open-forum style meetings that Mayor Gainey and his staff hosted late in 2022, some residents expressed that they would like to see an African American as the next chief of police, given the disproportionate number of homicides in the city that are being committed by and against African Americans. They said a police chief who is Black may be better equipped to understand how to tackle the issues plaguing some African American communities in the city.
When the Courier interviewed Lisa Frank, chief operating and administrative officer for the City of Pittsburgh, at one of the public meetings on Oct. 26, 2022, she said those in attendance said they wanted a chief who was, “Not afraid of conflict, able to lead in a strong direction, able to take on the problems that the bureau faces.”
She added that people wanted a person “who can rebuild trust with the community…a lot of people said that the bureau should look like the City of Pittsburgh, and that would be a more diverse bureau than we have right now. And leading in that direction can often be done most effectively by someone who embodies that themselves. What I heard people saying is that they want the best chief possible, and it’s a plus if it’s a woman or a Black chief.”
For Tim Stevens, Black Political Empowerment Project Chairman and CEO, he said that “I’m hopeful that the Gainey administration, which came into office with an emphasis on the need for police accountability and sensitive policing, would go out of its way to make sure that the person to be the new chief of police in Pittsburgh would be able to meet those expectations.”
Stevens said he had a “very good working relationship” with Pittsburgh’s two previous full-time police chiefs, Scott Schubert and Cameron McLay, both of whom are White. Stevens did not say the next police chief should be African American, rather: “I think a sensitive police chief with a global view of what he or she needs to do to meet the needs, aspirations and concerns of the citizenry of Pittsburgh with regard to policing can meet that objective. But it can’t be anybody, it has to be someone with a high level of sensitivity and openness, commitment to build bridges and a commitment to make the community feel taken care of, whoever that is.”
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