Pittsburgh always smiles for its top cop
To beat the sun, you gotta get up early. Scott Schubert, Pittsburgh’s police chief, routinely gets up at 5 a.m. to take pictures of the sunrise from Grandview Avenue on Mount Washington, the North Shore Riverwalk and other vantage points.
For the first time in forever, I rose at 5 a.m. to meet Scott and Pittsburgh PostGazette photographer Darrell Sapp at the overlook across from St. Mary of the Mount Church on Grandview Avenue. Darrell arrived first, around 6:15 a.m. I rolled up five minutes later and Scott at 6:30 a.m.
The sun? He turned on the light and languidly stretched his pink limbs more than an hour later, at 7:43 a.m. In your face, Sol Brother!
While we waited for the sun, I got a glimpse of Downtown opening its bleary eyes and a glimmer of why Scott loves to shoot the beginning of the day and, occasionally, its colorful end.
“Sometimes you forget to take a picture because you’re so amazed at what you’re looking at,” he says, smiling despite the 30-degree temperature and 15mph winds.
Scott’s top layer was his blue police uniform — no hat or gloves. At least three times a week for the past 12 years, he has started his day in a dark, windswept place with his cellphone or the Canon Rebel T5 digital camera that officers gave him three years ago as a 50th birthday gift.
“It opened a whole new world for me,” he says.
Scott and Darrell talked ISOs, framing shots and favorite viewpoints while my eyes wandered over the neon lights on Downtown buildings and flashing red lights on cellular towers. Scott points out the oncoming lights of a freight train in the South Side Flats.
“That’s Norfolk Southern,” Darrell says.
“I love trains,” Scott replies.
What Scott loves most is photographing the city where he has lived his entire life. He grew up in Beechview, the son of a Pittsburgh police officer, and now lives in Brookline with his wife, Lynn, and children, Alex and Haley. Scott started his police career in Coraopolis and joined the Pittsburgh force in 1993. His first photographs were for its Mobile Crime Unit. He used a Pentax K1000 to shoot blackand-white pictures of crime scenes, shell casings and bodies.
It’s laborious, sometimes heartbreaking work, but not nearly as high-pressure as the police chief’s job, which he has held since February 2017. His workday usually starts with an 8 a.m. meeting. But it really starts when he sets up his tripod.
“I wish I could do this every day,” Scott says. “It gives me an opportunity to just focus and not think about other stuff.”
As the sky begins to lighten in the east, he points out the contrast between the white of the looming clouds and bands of midnight blue changing to indigo over Downtown.
That’s about the time that Billy Shafer walks up, curious why a cop is taking pictures of the sunrise. A Pittsburgh native now living in Owasso, Okla., Billy is back visiting family and is staying in an Airbnb across the street. Scott stops clicking to shoot the breeze. They quickly find common ground.
“I chased the Big Boy steam locomotive across Oklahoma in November,” Billy says, referring to the historic Union Pacific engine that recently celebrated its 150th anniversary.
“I’ve always wanted to take a train ride out west,” Scott says.
“Meeting and talking to people is one of my favorite things about doing this,” he says as Billy heads back to his Airbnb.
While Scott’s talking about the regulars he sees on Mount Washington, a big one strides up and hugs him. It’s Tunch Ilkin, the former Steelers offensive lineman and now a TV and radio analyst. He walks four miles every morning.
“When I walk, I feel close to the Lord,” Tunch says.
Scott and Tunch met years ago at the Pittsburgh Polar Plunge for Special Olympics, one of Scott’s favorite charities. On Feb. 29, Scott and dozens of other brave souls will again jump repeatedly into an unheated outdoor pool by Heinz Field.
Scott often asks to take pictures of the people he meets while photographing the city. He posts them along with his panoramic pictures on his Instagram page, @pghpolicechief.
Years ago, a few of his Instagram followers asked to buy prints of his beautiful pictures. He agreed, as long as the proceeds went to Special Olympics, the Sarah Heinz House on the North Side or another charity. The photos are displayed and sold at the Kaffeehaus Cafe on the North Side. My wife and I have three nighttime views hanging in our house.
On the way home from work, Scott sometimes pulls over to take pictures of sunsets or the city at night. He considers his interactions with Pittsburghers and visitors as part of the job.
“People like to see a policeman in uniform,” he says.
Except maybe drivers who coast through the nearby stop sign on Grandview Avenue. Does he give them a ticket?
“It depends on how they are,” Scott says, smiling.
Come clean to the city’s top cop, smile for the camera and you just might get off with a warning.