Wilkinsburg Leaders Issue Statement on Potential of Ending Police Dept.

Several Wilkinsburg Council members released a joint statement in order to use city services. Below is the statement in its entirety, while the proposal to use Pittsburgh police instead of a borough force is attached in PDF format.

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Regarding The Police Department Proposal

Understandably, the police union is currently lobbying people and businesses in the community to support them in light of the proposal from the City of Pittsburgh to provide police service to Wilkinsburg. While their concern is completely reasonable, many of the things they are telling residents simply aren't true, and are needlessly raising fears in the community.

Here's where we are and how we got there:

On the heels of the very successful fire department merger last year, council agreed, in executive session in early summer, to authorize the manager to ask the City of Pittsburgh if they would consider a similar deal with police.

Council was not unanimous on whether or not to approach the city, but a majority was in favor. After consultation with Council President Eugenia Moore and Vice President Jason Cohn, several meetings were held in the fall between the manager and Pittsburgh officials to gather statistical information and data on our police department for their proposal.

In early January, the borough received the proposal and borough staff took some time to prepare additional information about secondary revenue and expenses related to the police department so that council would be able to consider the full picture.

Council received copies of the proposal in early March and has just begun to review it and ask questions. While a majority of council does want to consider the proposal as an option during financially difficult times, there are several council members who do not want to consider it and have offered no questions about it.

What's in the proposal?

In a nutshell, the proposal from the City of Pittsburgh is to increase the number of officers stationed at the borough building, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from 23 to 30. This would mean more officers on each shift, with numerous additional support units available to come in from the city as needed, including many resources we currently get from the county.

Additionally, they are offering bike patrols in the business district, a summer youth camp and other resources. You can see the full proposal at the borough website here: http://www.wilkinsburgpa.gov/pdf/CityProposal.pdf

This is being released not to promote it, but in order to give the public the truth about what is actually in it.

The additional manpower and resources would cost about the same as we are paying now, but we are still verifying all the secondary revenue and expenditures that factor into the comparison. Suffice it to say, this deal would not save the Borough a large amount of money, but would offer a significant increase in officers on the street.

Why would Council, even for a minute, consider a proposal which could result in the loss of jobs for all our officers?

Council hoped that we would have been able to merge the departments as we did with the fire merger. That appears not to be possible, but we are still investigating if there is any way to accomplish it as we do not want anyone to lose their job.

Ideally, we'd be able to improve public safety and our own officers keep their jobs. The spate of shootings and crimes in the past month illustrates why council feels this is still worth investigating as more bodies on the street will help with deterrence of crime. We all know, the number of crimes affecting our residents has been high and we are trying to find ways to help decrease that number.

The borough doesn't have the money to add more officers, and so we must consider any options that may exist, of which this is one. Council is reviewing the proposal and asking questions. If after that process we don't think the increase in  safety is enough to justify the painful step of losing our officers, we will let the public know that we will not pursue the proposal further, but it is council's responsibility to examine any and all options that can help make Wilkinsburg safer for our residents, and any elected official that isn't prepared to make hard decisions to protect the community isn't doing their job. This is certainly one of the hardest issues to come across our plates as council members and one that must be looked at from all sides.

Maintaining a police department is difficult and expensive for small municipalities. The cost of running a department is high, about 30 percent of the annual budget, and the resulting legal expenses can be staggering.

Wilkinsburg has paid out millions of dollars in legal fees and settlements related to the department, and in just the last three years, taxpayers have paid out over $500,000 in legal and court-related expenses due to lawsuits stemming from our department.

Police departments are difficult managerial challenges which is why we had 13 chiefs in 10 years. We currently have a chief that has stabilized the management of our department.

Unfortunately, it's well-established that the nature of a police department makes it a huge administrative and financial burden on the whole borough, regardless of who the chief is. Another benefit the proposal may offer is a much-improved organizational and administrative depth that a small department like ours doesn't have the resources to achieve.

When and how will this happen? Is it a Done Deal?

This is NOT a done deal. No Council member has decided that they are in favor of it. Five council people are carefully reviewing and asking questions. Council will not take it any further if, in our estimation, it won't significantly improve public safety and the benefits are not worth the loss of jobs.

We all have stories of excellent service by our officers and chief. We all like and respect them and appreciate that their jobs are extremely difficult. We're sorry that even considering this proposal is causing them anxiety, but we're sure if there were years of shootings and crime in the communities they live in, they would want their elected officials tolook for ways to make them safer. 

IF a majority of council decides that this does make sense and we should move forward, there will be a series of well-advertised public meetings with borough and city officials where residents will hear all the details about what is proposed and will be able to ask questions and make comments. We are nowhere near that point, and may not reach it. Council has heard a lot of public comments over the past few meetings from residents who are not in favor of the proposal.

Although many of the details they were given were not true, there were some excellent comments that will also be factored into council's review. Council understands the potential impact that t his proposal represents...both positive and negative. We will not act rashly in either direction. We will not go forward without a lot of public discussion and forethought, and we will not dismiss something that could potentially save more lives and help us change Wilkinsburg's unfortunate reputation for being a haven for crime without thoroughly examining it.

Is this the only approach council is taking to improve public safety?

Not at all. At the same executive session where council agreed to ask for the proposal, we agreed to move forward with a grant to try to get our Police Department to become officially accredited. This is a lengthy process and council is actively trying to work with the Mayor and Chief to make sure this process moves forward. Council thanks you for your patience while we sort this out. We will keep you informed as there is more information to share.

Sincerely,

Jason Cohn

Vanessa McCarthy-Johnson

Michael Lefebvre

Eve Goodman