Pittsburgh’s Police Chief Larry Scirotto plans to return to the basketball court, at least during his off hours — a reversal that the city's police union head says is out of bounds.
In a statement sent out Thursday afternoon, Scirotto announced he will be starting to referee college basketball again during his own time.
“As a lifelong sports fan who lives and breathes teamwork, I’ve worked out a way of accommodating the schedule so that I may continue to fight for you as your Chief,” the statement said.
“For me, it’s a dream come true and one that I now get to use to connect the city’s youth sports initiatives to sports programs in the city, and now college basketball."
NCAA referees work part-time, and Scirotto emphasized that he would be “using [his] own time to ensure no cost to the city.” He said Assistant Chief Chris Ragland will assume the role of Deputy Chief to “execute on decisions or respond to emergencies for those few hours when I am on the court.”
“I am proud of the progress the force is making, and I am committed to continuing to fight for your safety and the well-being of our officers,” Scirotto pledged.
The statement came hours after a WPXI story reported that Scirotto had already refereed a Big Ten basketball game earlier in October. When asked to confirm whether Scirotto had done so, Public Safety spokesperson Cara Cruz deferred all further questions until an upcoming media availability next Tuesday.
During earlier parts of his career in Pittsburgh and in Ft. Lauderdale, Scirotto drew some criticism for refereeing college basketball games on the side. At the time of his appointment to the chief’s post, Mayor Ed Gainey said Scirotto would not referee games, and City Council unanimously voted to confirm him as chief last year.
But in a statement Thursday evening, Gainey said Scirotto “approached us about possibly needing to step down from his role in order to pursue this part-time refereeing gig, I said there must be a better way. He’s too good, and we are making too much progress, not to keep up the fight.”
Gainey said he stands by the progress that Scirotto and the force are making on “community policing, reducing violent crime, diversifying the rank and file, and keeping us safe.” And he said he was “excited” by the “new and exciting opportunities that showcase the transformative power that sports can have.”
Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 1 President Robert Swartzwelder was less enthused. He said he was concerned that Gainey would add another command position, that of Deputy Chief, while the overall size of the force waned.
“How do you cut our staffing by 100, and create a new command level position?” he said. “We’re so top-heavy, yet they haven’t been reduced at all, they have been expanded.”
The city’s police force has declined not through cuts but through attrition as officers have retired or found work elsewhere. Those departures have left 752 officers on the force. Cruz said an anticipated recruit class of 30 people will start in November.
And Gainey’s budgets have reflected the expectation that it would be difficult to replenish the ranks any time soon. His proposed 2025 budget sets staffing levels for the city’s police bureau at 800 officers; a few years before the bureau was budgeted for the 900 officers previously regarded as the city’s ideal force size.
“Now you’re going to add another position so somebody can referee?” Swartzwelder said. “I don’t know what to say. It makes no sense to me.”
City Councilor Anthony Coghill said he found the announcement “a little unsettling,” because he wants Pittsburgh’s police chief to be “fully focused on the issues that we have in the city.”
“So far, I’ve been reassured that that won’t interfere, but I want to hear that from the horse’s mouth,” Coghill said. “When you’re in a serious job like Pittsburgh Police Chief, I just need to know that he’s focused here, and that none of this refereeing is going to take away from his time here.”
