Questions remain about Pittsburgh Police Chief Larry Scirotto’s controversial announcement last week that he plans to referee college basketball in his off hours. And some are calling for answers even as the city canceled a Tuesday press conference to address the situation.
City Councilor Anthony Coghill said during a Tuesday council meeting that he wanted to schedule a post-agenda discussion with Scirotto and Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt about the arrangement.
“I'm quite fond of Chief Scirotto, I think he's doing a great job. I would hate to lose him. And obviously he convinced the mayor that he can continue on doing his job,” Coghill said. “But I think he needs to convince Council of that as well, before we approve or not approve his salary for the next year.”
Coghill said he’d heard varying reactions to the news from constituents, and that his own feelings about the arrangement were “right in the middle.”
Public Safety officials planned to hold a press event at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Ammon Community Recreation Center to discuss the arrangement, but canceled it a few hours in advance.
Last Friday, however, Mayor Ed Gainey told WESA that he’d decided to grant Scirotto’s desire to take on the side gig because of the city’s dropping homicide rate. The city has seen 39 homicides so far this year — a drop of more than 11% from the same time a year before, when the number of homicides was already down by over 21%.
According to city statistics, non-fatal shootings are also down from 98 last year, to 67 this year.
“The numbers speak for themselves. The results speak for themselves,” Gainey said Friday. Given that, he said, he was optimistic about the ways in which Scirotto’s involvement in college basketball could connect city students with broader opportunities.
“If we can connect the kids to this and give them an opportunity to be able to see on another level it's something that's worth exploring,” Gainey said.
Others have greeted the news more warily.
During earlier parts of his career in Pittsburgh and in Ft. Lauderdale, Scirotto drew some criticism for refereeing on the side. At the time of his appointment in 2023, Gainey said Scirotto would stop refereeing games.
But in a statement last week, Gainey said Scirotto initially approached him about "possibly needing to step down" to referee part-time. Gainey largely declined to answer WESA questions last week, including whether Scirotto had given the city an ultimatum: At the time Gainey said the Tuesday press conference would address the matter.
The city has not answered WESA questions about the situation sent last week and resent after the Tuesday press event was canceled.
Citizen Police Review Board Executive Director Beth Pittinger said she worries about the impact of Scirotto’s decision on officer morale, especially as the city’s police department struggles with staffing.
“I think the officers … expect their chief of police to be readily available and backing them up when need be. And that’s being questioned now,” she said. “I just want to know, what's the status of our chief of police? Is the position full-time, and [does it require] undivided attention to the policing needs and law enforcement needs of the city of Pittsburgh?”
Officer numbers have been well below budgeted totals in recent years, and the department has declined through attrition, as officers have retired or found work elsewhere. Those departures have left 752 officers on the force as of last week, with an anticipated recruit class of 30 people will start in November, according to spokesperson Cara Cruz.
