Sources say Pittsburgh close to announcing new police chief from list of 3 finalists

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey is expected to name the city’s next police chief soon, possibly within days, according to those close to the hiring process.

Gainey and three committees have been working, largely behind closed doors, for nearly six months to find a successor to former Chief Scott Schubert, who announced his retirement last year. Acting Chief Thomas Stangrecki, a Pittsburgh police veteran of nearly 35 years, has been leading Western Pennsylvania’s largest law-enforcement agency since Schubert’s departure.

After Gainey makes his recommendation — about two weeks ago, the mayor said the decision would be coming in two weeks — the appointment will go to Pittsburgh City Council for approval.

Two of the three finalists — Jason Lando and Larry Scirotto, both former Pittsburgh police officers — communicated with the Tribune-Review about the prospect of leading the city’s police force.

The third candidate, former Boise police Chief Ryan Lee, could not be reached for comment.

Lando served 21 of his 23 years in law enforcement with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, most recently for six years as its Zone 5 commander. He retired from the Pittsburgh force in March 2021 and now serves as the police chief in Frederick, Md., a city of 80,000 residents.

“When I was contacted recently about the prospect of returning to Pittsburgh as chief of police, I was torn,” Lando said. “Frederick is my home now, and a place I have grown to love. Pittsburgh is where I was born and raised … and it is where my entire family still resides.”

Lando stressed he is not involved in any other police chief searches.

“If I am offered the position in Pittsburgh, it will most certainly be the toughest decision of my professional life,” he said. “If I am ultimately not selected for the job, I plan to remain right here in Frederick.”

Scirotto joined the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police in 1995, climbing the ranks to become assistant chief before retiring in 2018.

“I spent 23 years of my career there, and it holds a special place in my heart,” said Scirotto, who lives in Dallas and officiates NCAA basketball games. “When this opportunity presented itself, it seemed like the right opportunity to grow.”

Scirotto served for about six months as the police chief in Fort Lauderdale, where he was the force’s first openly gay chief, before controversy about minority promotion practices led to his resignation.

Scirotto, who has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Fort Lauderdale, defends his promotion of minority candidates, stressing he was hired by the Florida city to “create an equitable environment that was fair to everyone.”

“The ‘why’ (of the resignation) is that sometimes city advisers say they want change agents but they’re not ready for the pushback from the department,” he said.

Lee, who has no experience in Pittsburgh, spent years with the Portland, Ore., police department before becoming chief in Boise, Idaho, where he grappled with reports of low morale and allegedly broke a sergeant’s neck during a tactical demonstration. Lee resigned in September at the request of the Boise mayor, according to media reports.

Before coming to Boise, Lee had gained extensive recognition as an expert in crowd control, and particularly protest management, Boise news media reported.

Beth Pittinger, executive director of the city’s Citizen Police Review Board, said she has concerns because the chief selection process has been mired in secrecy.

“What kind of vetting was done?” Pittinger asked Monday. “What sort of information was shared in their discussions? We don’t know how (the three finalists) were presented on paper. This whole process was not transparent, and that’s something we want to figure out.”

Pittinger also voiced concerns about Lee, who some are describing as a front-runner for the chief post, noting that some in Boise were “pretty dissatisfied” with his service.

“That should raise a lot of questions,” Pittinger said. “They say, ‘You either like him or you don’t.’ We just don’t know him enough.”

Rocklin, Calif.-based Public Sector Search & Consulting, the firm that led the police chief search in Pittsburgh, did not return calls or emails Monday seeking comment.

Gainey has declined to comment on specifics of the search.