Officers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will no longer respond to certain calls the department deems lower-priority. Instead, the department says that those calls will be re-directed to its Telephone Reporting Unit, but that “in-progress emergencies” will still receive an in-person police response.
Such is what the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police announced in a late-February press release, saying that it was making a number of changes to the workday of officers and to how those officers respond to crime. It framed the changes as being in support of “officer wellness” and to “better serve Pittsburgh.”
Announcing the new policies, the bureau led off by describing the change in officer work hours, saying, “Beginning Monday, February 26, 2024, Pittsburgh Bureau of Police personnel will transition from traditional eight-hour work days, back to four 10-hour shifts each week, with three consecutive days off. This organizational change is designed to enhance officer wellness, a key pillar in Chief Scirotto’s priorities for the Bureau.”
Commenting on why the bureau was making the changes, Chief Larry Scirotto said, “An additional day away from work each week to focus on family, friends, or outside pursuits is key to creating a healthy workforce and contributes to the Bureau’s goal of not only recruiting new officers, but retaining them for the long haul.”
The bureau’s press release then announced the other changes, which it framed as being “additional adjustments to more effectively serve Pittsburgh residents and visitors to the city.” The first of those was “Centralized deployment established for the night shift where police units will be strategically placed throughout the zones staffed by multiple supervisors and a night watch commander who will oversee operations and allocate resources to areas of need throughout the city.”
It also included “New watch commander added to the p.m. shift,” “Formation of the Violent Crime Division to include Homicide, Narcotics, Intelligence, and the Violence Prevention Unit with the overarching goal of reducing violent crime and gun violence,” and “Installation of blue phones with a direct line to 9-1-1 outside all six police zones and the Downtown Public Safety Center for use between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. when officers are deployed in the field.”
Then it got to what was probably the most controversial of the new policies: certain calls will now be forwarded to the “Telephone Reporting Unit” rather than officers for dispatch, namely non-violent crimes where there is not a suspect at the scene or other evidence.
"*" indicates required fields
Describing that policy, the press release said, “Creation of an enhanced Telephone Reporting Unit (TRU) operating from 7-3 a.m. daily, including weekends. Dispatch will assign reports to the TRU for calls that do not require an in-person response by officers. TRU will NOT be assigned to any “In Progress” call where a suspect may be on scene, any crime where a person may need medical aid, any domestic dispute, calls with evidence, or where the Mobile Crime Unit will be requested to process a scene.”
Watch a report on the policy here: