Pittsburgh Police Chief Larry Scirotto wasn’t present to speak about his impending departure with City Council on Tuesday afternoon — even though they’d called the meeting to discuss it.
But that didn’t stop council from spending three hours airing their grievances about the decisions Scirotto has made in recent weeks: first to return to refereeing college basketball in his free time, and then, after the move was met with controversy and criticism, to retire from his post entirely. And some said his departure would complicate the police bureau's future.
Councilor Barb Warwick said that while Scirotto’s “tenure here was incredibly successful,” his departure was “incredibly disappointing.”
“There was a monthslong search, committee members put their time into that,” she said. “Chief Scirotto bailed, and he quit, and that really stinks. That’s really disappointing. I thought that he should have stayed, he should have stuck it out, he should have just weathered the storm and stayed.”
Scirotto announced last Friday that he would retire on Nov. 1, but in fact he is no longer on the job: Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt said he is using days off for the rest of the week. He noted he didn't know whether Scirotto was out of town or refereeing; an NCAA box score posted online notes that Scirotto refereed a game in Iowa City the day he turned in his resignation.
That left councilors demanding answers from Public Safety officials and Mayor Ed Gainey’s administration.
Scirotto had pursued refereeing as a side gig before coming to Pittsburgh as chief – a source of concern when Gainey moved to hire him in early 2023. And on Tuesday council members were critical of an apparent agreement between the mayor and Scirotto to revisit his ability to referee games down the road – even though Scirotto assured council he would not do so.
On Tuesday Councilor Anthony Coghill replayed a clip of Scirotto’s saying before his hiring that he would not referee. He questioned whether Scirotto had lied to Council at the time.
Coghill praised Scirotto’s work as chief, but said he didn’t feel like hiring him was worth it, given the money spent on the search process, and what his pension would cost going forward.
“I absolutely regret it,” said Coghill. “To me, that is not worth it. It’s going to cost us our pension fund, it’s going to cost us a lot, not to mention morale.”
Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak said that Scirotto initially approached Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt to tell him he’d been offered a role as a referee in the Big 10 men’s basketball conference.
“Ultimately, the mayor made the determination that he was comfortable moving forward under the terms that we had agreed to with the chief for how that would work,” said Pawlak.
Pawlak said those terms included Scirotto’s agreement to referee only on days he had off, and to take a pay cut to compensate Assistant Chief Chris Ragland for assuming duties as Acting Chief when Scirotto was on the court.
Scirotto refereed a pre-season game on October 13, before his plans to do so were made public. According to Pawlak, the administration had planned to announce Scirotto’s return to refereeing days later, but the news got out before they had the chance.
Pawlak said he does not regret hiring Scirotto, and emphasized his positive impact on the force.
“I think the city and the bureau benefited from his leadership, from the energy that he brought to recruitment, to modernizing and transforming practices,” Pawlak said. “Like the mayor, I was comfortable with him continuing to serve as chief while refereeing on his own time, and I wish that that had been allowed to occur.
“His decision to retire was his own, and I find it unfortunate, but I would have been very happy speaking for myself with him remaining in that position for a long time to come.”
Future concerns
Council also raised their concerns about the bureau’s direction over the past year and a half, and about how it would perform with Ragland in charge.
Councilor Theresa Kail Smith said she wanted to make sure that Ragland, and whoever serves as the next chief, work to unite the bureau.
“I’m not going to pretend that this bureau has not been divided, I’m not going to pretend that this bureau has not had issues, I’m not going to pretend that there wasn’t a mass amount of people retiring early from this department,” said Kail Smith. “The people that it’s affecting the most are the people we all say we care about.”
Councilor Erika Strassburger, meanwhile, said council needs to be more involved in the days ahead.
“The work that we do as council members, along with the mayor's administration, only works if we keep an open line of communication and continue to maintain trust,” she said. “And I'll be honest, this has broken that a bit and it'll take some time to build that back.
“I hope that we can do something to continue to demonstrate that council members are seen as part of the team, and seen as those who rise to the level of candid communication when serious decisions are being considered.”
Warwick said that she wanted to see a continuation of work around community policing and traffic enforcement, and urged Ragland to “get the rank and file onboard” with the policies moving forward.
“When you become a police officer, you do so because you want to help people, you want to make a difference,” Ragland said. “My goal is to empower those individuals and allow them to do that, to do the job they wanted to do, and make them feel valued, make them feel heard, and make them feel part of the process.”
Meanwhile, Pawlak said the city had not yet decided on a process for choosing a permanent chief.
“Until last Friday, we weren't aware that this was a choice we were confronting,” he said. He said that in the short term, the administration’s top priority was assuring “preparedness and vigilance” around what could be a contentious presidential election next week.
Coghill said that whenever the hiring process begins, he plans to do his own vetting and research – and he won’t vote to pay for another national search.
Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 1 President Robert Swartzwelder shared some ideas of his own for the future with council. He said the next chief should work under a binding contract, like other police officers do.
“Many chiefs of police and assistant chiefs of police and other command staff personnel are required to do that,” he said. “Bind them to a contract that council can control.”
