Community activists outline demands for police reform in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County

African American activists on Monday outlined a dozen police reforms they want to see enacted immediately by Allegheny County and Pittsburgh officials.

The group, which calls itself the Alle­gheny County Black Activist/Organizer Collective, is made up of several black-led organizations and has the support of Allegheny County Councilwoman Olivia Bennett and state Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale.

“We should be the ones consulted around police reforms,” said Jasiri X of 1Hood Media, a Pittsburgh-based black artist and activist collective.

Miracle Jones, also of 1Hood, said the collective came together over the past two weeks amid protests here and across the country following the May 25 death of George Floyd. Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin faces second-­degree murder and other charges in Floyd’s death, and three other former officers also face charges.

Floyd’s death has reinvigorated a national conversation about police brutality against blacks and inspired a movement that calls for reducing police spending and redirecting the money to a range of social and community programs.

“We are echoing the national call to defund the police, to support the communities and to hold officers accountable by taking them out of our schools, taking them out of our communities and supporting community initiatives,” Jones said.

Reforms and training aren’t enough, she said.

“What we have seen is an utter lack of response from those elected. We have seen a lack of policy initiatives,” Jones said.

On June 4, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto called for police reform and asked for two investigations into the police use of tear gas during a June 1 protest in East Liberty. On June 9, city Councilman Ricky Burgess introduced several police reforms that include enacting a hiring freeze in the department and redirecting $250,000 of the police budget to a fund aimed at stopping violence.

Peduto spokesman Tim McNulty said the mayor is thankful for the community input and the calls for change are a driving reason behind the creation of a new city Office of Community Health and Safety.

The new office will help develop community health and safety priorities with input from residents and determine community needs that are now most frequently addressed by police, McNulty said.

It will establish a group of community health and safety advisers to “advise, educate, support and inform on best practices for sustainable social and health support in city programs, policies and legislation,” McNulty said.

Peduto also supports broader reforms being taken up by state leaders and is reviewing budgets and working on more reforms that will be announced, McNulty said.

“The mayor’s office will carefully review the presented recommendations to identify what measures the city can unilaterally address versus those that will require state action,” McNulty said.

County council also has taken up police reform measures. On June 9, the council sent to committee a measure to limit the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and other so-called less-than-lethal devices in the county.

The council also is considering whether to take up forming a countywide civilian police review board.

“We have and will continue to invest in black communities,” county spokeswoman Amie Downs said in a statement.

County Executive Rich Fitzgerald supports ending cash bail and reducing the population at the jail, which is one of the collective’s demands, Downs said.

“He is proud of the work of the Public Defender’s Office, which has assisted in the review of vulnerable populations at the jail for potential release and filed corresponding motions with the court,” Downs said.

Fitzgerald also has long supported a citizen police review board, but it will take state legislation to expand a board’s reach beyond Allegheny County’s police department, Downs said.

“While we will certainly review the list to determine if there are any items that we should consider, at first glance, many of these items are not ones to which the county can respond, as they are under the purview of the state Legislature, pertain to specific agencies other than the county, or do not apply to the county or county police,” Downs said.

The collective directed their demands to the appropriate officials who oversee the county’s two largest police agencies, said Mike Manko, a spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.