Community residents and command staff gathered at Bethel AME Church in the Hill District on Nov. 10 to meet with new acting Pittsburgh Police Chief Cameron McLay to ask questions, voice their concerns and hear his objectives for his new position. Billed as a Community Conversation with the chief, audience questions were written down on cards, and read by media personality Tene’ Croom.
Tim Stevens, director of the Black Political Empowerment Project, said the purpose of the event was to hear the chief’s plans on moving forward in regards to community relations and policing.
“It went well; it was a great atmosphere and the chief showed why he was picked. I am very optimistic,” he said.
Stevens also continued to say that McLay was open and candid in his responses, and presented himself in a manner that shows he is committed to ’a new day’ of how police operate in Pittsburgh.
Retired Pittsburgh police Officer Brenda Tate, disagreed.
“He deferred everything,” she said. “I don’t think he has a handle on everything yet.”
She said McLay foundered and repeatedly had to refer questions to his fellow panelists, Deputy Chief Maurita Bryant, Zone 1 Cmdr. Rashall Brakney, Public Safety spokesperson Sonya Toler and Office of Municipal Investigations Director Deborah Walker.
“He says he wants do community policing, so someone asked how many foot patrol officers the department had, he didn’t know,” she said. “Rashall said there were only 12 in the whole city. How do you do community policing with 12 officers?”
Tate said when asked about diversity, McLay referred to an ACLU lawsuit and said little else.
“Regardless of that, he could have said what his preference is,” she said. “He doesn’t appear to have a clear strategy on diversity.”
The kicker, she said, was when someone asked what he would do about Allegheny District Attorney Steven Zappala saying he intended to have the city Housing Authority’s Bedford Dwelling Housing community declared a nuisance property because of the drugs, alcohol and violence.
“He said he hadn’t heard anything about it, or spoken with the DA,” she said. “I was disappointed in that.”
Valerie Dixon, co-director of the Coalition Against Violence, said McLay was, and should be, given credit for coming out to the community and letting them know he is concerned.
“He hasn’t grasped the whole situation in Pittsburgh yet,” she said. “People asked about being afraid of rogue cops. He said that could be addressed with training and supervision. He said he’d give problem officers a chance, but if they don’t change he’ll fire them—even though that’s a serious process.”
Dixon said one lady complained that her question about getting guns off the street wasn’t asked.
“I told her I’d make sure it is at the next meeting,” she said.
The next Community Conversation event will be held 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 17 at Pentecostal Temple in East Liberty. Like the first one, the event will be sponsored by the Black Political Empowerment Project, the Alliance for Police Accountability, the Western PA Political Assembly and the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh.
Brandi Fisher, president of the Alliance for Police Accountability, said the feedback she’s received from the event was that it was a productive discussion.
“I think the chief was able to talk about his plan on moving forward. He is very new and the expectation for him to have answers to things that occurred when he wasn’t here is unrealistic. We don’t disregard what has happened, we have cases and issues that we still have to address, but we also have to work on preventative measures and moving forward.”
Of the things discussed, Fisher said the top concerns among residents were diversity on the force, police training and accountability, and how McLay plans on addressing them all.
