East Pittsburgh officers pull their last shifts

State police begin to patrol borough

East Pittsburgh resident Sean Andrejco stood outside a newsstand Friday evening not far from the borough’s police station, feeling that something was missing.

Pennsylvania State Police, who begin to patrol East Pittsburgh full time on Saturday, were nowhere to be seen.

“They’re supposed to be learning the streets and all that,” said Mr. Andrejco, 49. “That’s why the problem started. It was a young cop who didn’t know what he was doing.”

East Pittsburgh Police Department officers worked their last day Friday before the takeover of patrol duties by state police.

The department, which used to have nine officers, had dwindled to five in the months since the death of Antwon Rose II, who was shot by a borough

officer. Borough officials discussed disbanding the force as early as August, and officers have been steadily leaving for other jobs since then.

The remaining four officers, plus the chief, served their last day Friday.

Borough officials alerted state police on Nov. 13 that they would need coverage after the department disbanded, Trooper Melinda Bondarenka said this past week.

“We’re required by law that if an area does not have police services, to come in and provide fulltime police services,” she said. “We have no idea how long we’re going to be there. Or if [East Pittsburgh officials] are going to try to negotiate with another department nearby. We’re just there for however long they need us.”

East Pittsburgh officials began seriously contemplating options for policing in the borough after an officer fatally shot 17-year-old Antwon as the unarmed teenager fled on June 19. That officer, Michael Rosfeld, has been charged with homicide.

Council President Dennis Simon said during an October council meeting that the borough was considering consolidating police forces with neighboring towns as well as accepting state police coverage, for which there is no charge.

“We’re trying to have a stronger, healthier police department,” he said at the time.

No one answered the door at the East Pittsburgh police station Friday night.

When state police take over in the borough, the on-duty troopers will not spend all their time exclusively in East Pittsburgh, Trooper Bondarenka said. Rather, they will continue their highway patrol duties in a larger zone that includes the borough.

“They will be in and out of the borough,” she said.

That concerns Mr. Andrejco, who said he fears the crime rate will skyrocket in the absence of a force dedicated to the borough.

His friend, William “Skeet” Peterson, 69, concurred. “I think they’re going to be undermanned,” he said.

If a trooper is too far away to respond promptly to an emergency call, the state police will ask for help from neighboring police departments, according to Trooper Bondarenka.

“If we need backup or depending on our call volume and our location, if the trooper is already on something else, we might request a neighboring agency to come in until we get there,” she said. “Just like if we have a crash on the Parkway, and there is another crash, we’ll ask a nearby department to get there, render aid and do whatever needs to be done.”

East Pittsburgh police answered 2,921 calls for service in 2017, according to Allegheny County 911.