City, county to look at limiting police actions
Proposals to ban the use of tear gas and reprioritizing police funds for other uses were among the police reform bills introduced Tuesday as both Pittsburgh and Allegheny County’s legislative arms called for robust discussions on the intersection of race and law enforcement.
Pittsburgh City Councilman Ricky Burgess, who has long brought up the issue of racism to his fellow council members, introduced four pieces of legislation with the aim to:
• Prohibit the city’s acquisition of military equipment and weaponry.
• Require a “duty to intervene” on behalf of police employees who witness “inappropriate force.”
• Move $250,000 from police salaries to a gun violence prevention fund.
• Require a budgetary obligation to that fund.
The proposals come in the wake of sustained protests after the death of George Floyd, a black man who died when a Minneapolis police officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes while three other officers stood by. All four officers have been fired and charged.
One of the local protests — on June 1 in East Liberty where police deployed tear gas, bean bag projectiles and sponge rounds — is under multiple investigations.
“I have spent 60 years plus in our city with friends and family talking about our feelings about our safety and well being and the lack of opportunity to African Americans in our city,” Mr. Burgess said. “And now we are facing this kind of unrest and a new future. For me, it is 60 years, maybe a couple hundred years overdue. But we’re at this moment and at this time. So this is, in many ways, the moment of my life.”
Tensions flared when Councilman Bruce Kraus introduced a bill to enter into a $25,000 professional services agreement with the outside firm Densus Group to assist the Citizen Police Review Board in its investigation of the June 1 protest in East Liberty.
Councilwoman Deb Gross said she wants to see more information about the contractor before moving forward.
Mr. Burgess pushed back on the idea, calling it a “frivolous and somewhat silly piece of legislation that in my opinion will be of very little consequence” and saying it would be better to speak to city communities “to see what we can do together to improve the community’s confidence in the police,” including asking residents of the predominately African American neighborhood of Beltzhoover for their input.
“Thank you for your dissertation, Mr. Burgess,” said Mr. Kraus, taking issue with Mr. Burgess’ mention of the neighborhood that sits in Mr. Kraus’ district.
“I’m glad to hear that you’re finally concerned about communities of color,” Mr. Burgess responded.
Council President Theresa Kail-Smith broke up the argument.
“This is the time the public needs to see us coming together, not playing petty games, not playing political nonsense. They need to see some real results,” she said. “... I’m not going to sit here having these kinds of meetings every week, everyone’s throwing legislation on the table, no one’s having discussions and nothing’s getting resolved . ... and I do think that the police need to be at the table as well.”
Ms. Kail-Smith called for both a fact-finding meeting and public hearing on policing in Pittsburgh.
Several other members delivered comment.
Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle told of bringing his son to a demonstration on the Hill District’s historic Freedom Corner on Sunday and having to explain to him why people were gathering.
He added that he is “very grateful for his white brothers and sisters who have taken to the street because, unfortunately, once they take to the street a different level of conversation happens when we see the police teargassing, beating with their clubs white women and men along with black people.”
He said he’s looking forward “to having that conversation of how we re-envision policing.”
Mayor Bill Peduto on Thursday endorsed the adoption of a national campaign aimed at limiting certain uses of force by police, among other measures.
“The administration is committed to working with council on police reform and budget prioritizations,” mayoral spokesman Timothy McNulty said Tuesday afternoon.
Robert Swartzwelder, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge 1, said he doesn’t understand how the city could move any money from the police budget.
“Starting last Monday until at least last Sunday, the city spent approximately $2.2 million in overtime for policing during the protests, and that’s a conservative estimate,” he said.
Regarding the bill aiming to prohibit the city from purchasing military equipment, Mr. Swartzwelder used the example of police response to two local mass shooting incidents — the October 2018 Tree of Life shooting in which a gunman killed 11 worshippers and injured several officers, and the April 2009 shooting in which three police officers were killed and two seriously injured when responding to a domestic dispute call.
“If you eliminate any of the equipment we used in the Tree of Life operation, Officer [Timothy] Matson would be dead because he took a round to the head and he had a military grade ballistic helmet on,” Mr. Swartzwelder said. In April 2009, “[officers] used our armored vehicle to move in and apply force to [Richard] Poplawski who murdered police officers . ... If you look at stories from that day, you’ll see how many rifle rounds that piece of equipment absorbed.”
He said the city already follows equipment-use guidelines.
Regarding Mr. Burgess’ “duty to intervene” bill, Mr. Swartzwelder said “you don’t need an ordinance to do what the federal civil rights statutes already do.”
City Council is expected to discuss the proposed legislation next week.
Two Allegheny County Council members introduced a bill aiming to ban all “less lethal” crowd control measures, including tear gas and beanbag rounds.
Members Bethany Hallam, D-At large, and Olivia Bennett, D-Northview Heights, introduced the measure Tuesday, proposing that the ordinance be enforced under the county’s health code.
The proposal, which would carry a penalty of up to $300 and 30 days’ imprisonment, specifically defines categories of chemical, explosive and kinetic devices meant to disperse a crowd.
“Even though they’re called less lethal, very often they are lethal or cause permanent damage. We’ve seen the stories of the rubber bullets injuring people and have seen people go to the hospital for tear gas inhalation,” said Ms. Hallam. “These kind of less lethal tools are used indiscriminately and harm everyone in a crowd.”
The ordinance would only apply to crowd control, meaning the use of personal pepper sprays for “self-defense situations” would not become illegal.
“The police still have the full authority to arrest anyone in specific instances of crimes being committed, but they shouldn’t have the ability to harm all of those in a crowd exercising their constitutional rights,” Ms. Hallam said.
Ms. Bennett declined to comment to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Mr. Swartzwelder said that the use of “less lethal” munitions, including sponge rounds and rounds filled with “fine ground powdered lead” are “necessary and appropriate for large civil disturbances like the unlawful activity of burning cars, smashing windows, bottling and bricking officers.”
County council’s Health and Human Services Committee will discuss the bill in the coming weeks.