Pittsburgh public safety officials hope to have new police chief in April

Pittsburgh public safety officials on Thursday said they hope to have a new police chief in place in April.

Former Chief Scott Schubert retired in July after leading the bureau since late 2016. Deputy Chief Thomas Stangrecki is serving as acting chief as city officials conduct a national search for a permanent replacement.

Pittsburgh City Council in November hired California-based Public Sector Search & Consulting Inc. to spearhead the search for a new chief.

“They’ve done a lot of community engagement, engagement with all of our council members, the mayor’s office and other folks,” Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt said during a police briefing Thursday.

The official posting for the job “should go up very soon,” Schmidt said.

This comes as the city has struggled with low staffing levels in the police bureau after a two-year hiring freeze.

The mayor in September announced plans for two new police academy classes to bolster the force’s numbers. The first, designed for people who are already officers elsewhere, is expected to have only three or four members, Schmidt said. The second, for new recruits, is expected to begin in July and be larger.

A typical police class in the city has about 35 people.

Officials also reported during Thursday’s briefing that homicides spiked 26% in 2022.

Pittsburgh recorded 71 homicides in 2022, up from 56 in 2021, according to Major Crimes Commander Richard Ford.

There have been three homicides in the city so far this year, Ford said. Police have made arrests in two of those cases.

Ford said police are working with ATF and the district attorney’s office to address illegal guns on the streets.

In 2022, he said, 469 firearms were reported stolen. Police recovered 940 firearms last year, as well as 54 so-called ghost guns, or ones that are not trackable. That’s four more ghost guns than the city’s police recovered the prior year.

Ford said those numbers could increase as 2022 reports are finalized.

Pittsburgh police in 2022 cleared about 50.7% of homicides in the city, Ford said.

Because there is no statute of limitations on homicide, he said, police continue to work on killings that occurred in prior years. Pittsburgh police last year cleared nine homicides that had been committed in previous years.

“I’ll be satisfied when we reach 100%,” Ford said.