5 police reform measures approved

Overhaul includes ban on chokeholds

A ban on chokeholds and other neck restraints and a requirement for officers to intervene if they see “unreasonable force” will now be part of Pittsburgh City Code.

City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved the two police reform measures sponsored by Councilmen Ricky Burgess and Daniel Lavelle, along with three other reform bills that received some dissent, after lengthy discussion.

The legislative body’s two Black councilmen introduced the ordinances in June after cellphone video showed a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for nearly nine minutes, killing him, while three fellow officers stood by.

The Memorial Day weekend killing sparked a wave of protests across the nation and in Pittsburgh with demonstrators calling for “defunding the police” and memorializing Black individuals killed by officers.

“We have gotten, I believe, a cross section of comments. We have gotten to where I think everybody’s comfortable, and this, I think, is a great step forward in our city, that we’re standing up and making this vote statement that Black lives do matter in the city,” Mr. Burgess said about the passage of the bills.

Pittsburgh Police use-of-force procedures already ban neck restraints unless officers are “involved in a deadly force encounter.” Neck restraints were used five times last year, according to the bureau’s 2019 annual report.

Bureau officials say that its use-of-force manual is also being updated to “to ensure that it incorporates a clear statement related to a duty to intervene.”

Making the policies part of city code goes a step beyond the bureau’s procedural manual.

Despite all bills finally passing, some members said they could not reach a “comfort level” on bills related to a hiring freeze on police recruits, a prohibition on certain military equipment and the funding of anti-violence programs.

In an 8-1 vote, council approved matching a percentage of the police budget to fund anti-violence and social services programs. The matching obligation will be

5% in 2021 and grow to 10% by 2026. Councilman Anthony Coghill, who wanted more details on the fund, was the lone dissenting vote.

The bureau’s 2019 budget was $114.8 million, the majority in salary obligations.

Activists, who criticized the proposal’s funding formula and amount as not being enough, had asked members to hold the bills until after summer recess when discussions could resume.

Brandi Fisher, head of the Alliance for Police Accountability and member of the mayor’s police reform task force, said the bill was “emotionally manipulative at a time when the community was asking for policing funds to be decreased.” The bill “is actually not decreasing [the police budget] in any way, shape or form” and was presented under “the guise of giving them something they’re asking for,” she said.

Members voted 6-3 to move $250,000 from the police recruit budget to the STOP the Violence fund, which will be dedicated to violence reduction and social services.

The bill also requests the mayor put a hiring freeze on new police recruits. Mr. Burgess assured members the bill would not affect current recruits in training.

Council President Theresa Kail-Smith, along with members Bruce Kraus and Mr. Coghill, voted against the measure.

The three members also opposed Mr. Burgess’ bill to prohibit the bureau from acquiring or purchasing six specific types of equipment and weaponry from any source, including the U.S. Department of Defense.

The six categories are: weaponized aircraft; bayonets; crowd-control devices containing the chemical chloroacetophenone, or CN; wooden batons for crowd control; military surplus weapons “not intentionally made for civilian law enforcement use”; and armored vehicles “not specifically designed for law enforcement use.”

Mr. Kraus said he’s concerned about the danger of a “citizenry that outguns our police departments and our constituencies.

“However — and this is a big one — I will stand on my head to discuss and create sound policy as to when those weapons can be deployed,” he added.

The bureau is not in possession of any items defined in the legislation, and Department of Public Safety officials say police do not receive military surplus equipment and have not had any in its possession since 2007.

Mr. Burgess said the new ordinance will not affect the city’s possession of the BEAR armored recovery vehicle, which was used at two mass shootings since 2009: that year’s domestic dispute in Stanton Heights in which three responding officers were killed and several injured and the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue massacre in which 11 worshippers were killed and several officers injured.

Ms. Fisher said she and other activists supported the demilitarization bill but now want to see the council examine data that reveals where and how often the armored SWAT vehicle is called to Black communities and for what types of incidents.

Mayor Bill Peduto will review the bills but intends to sign them, said Timothy McNulty, the mayor’s spokesman.

Council is now on recess until Aug. 21.