Council denies review of East Liberty protest by outside firm

A bill that would authorize the Citizen Police Review Board to hire an outside firm to review what happened during a June 1 protest in East Liberty failed Tuesday in a close vote in Pittsburgh City Council.

The 5-4 vote denies a $25,000 contract with the Plano, Texasbased Densus Group, a U.S.- and U.K.-veteran run consultant group that specializes in protest management and was “founded to advocate the professional and appropriate use of force,” according to its website.

Densus’ major clients include the U.S. departments of defense, justice and state.

Council members Ricky Burgess, Anthony Coghill, Deb Gross, Erika Strassburger and Theresa Kail-Smith, council president, voted to block the contract going forward. Members Bobby Wilson, Daniel Lavelle, Corey O’Connor, chair of the Public Safety Committee, and Bruce Kraus, who sponsored the bill, voted to allow the contract.

The police review board and the Office of Municipal Investigations are investigating police

response to the June 1 protest, which is now the subject of a federal lawsuit.

Council also unanimously voted to extend the city’s declaration of disaster emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The governing body must vote every seven days to continue the declaration’s status. Mr. Peduto declared the emergency March 13.

Allegheny County has seen a staggering uptick in cases of the contagious respiratory disease in recent days.

The number of new cases reached 109 Tuesday, the first time a singleday, triple-digit increase has been reported.