In 2011, as a gesture toward community involvement, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police allowed citizens to serve on the oral interview panel for police candidate selection.
It lasted less than one day.
The public’s involvement on the panel came to a screeching halt when one of the officers noticed that one of the community interviewers was a felon he had arrested before. The bureau immediately closed ranks and took the entire interview process in-house again.
But a year and a half later, that all-internal process led to the bureau taking more heat for putting officers on the panel who were either under investigation or who’d already cost the city hundreds of thousands in settlements for excessive use of force—all while then Chief Nate Harper was facing federal indictment.
Now, with Chief Cameron McLay in charge, the bureau has given the public participation method another try. But this time around, rather than leaving the vetting process to possibly less rigorous community groups, the police bureau investigated the applicants to determine their eligibility.
“What we did, in terms of populating the panel is use the same eligibility criteria we use for officers candidates,” McLay told the Courier.
“It’s entirely possible that police candidates might have been arrested in the past for things that were felonies at the time, but weren’t convicted or had records expunged. They can serve on the panel—so we used the same criteria.”
McLay said this is an important part in the paradigm shift he’s trying to forge between the bureau and the community.
“It’s important (for bureau personnel) to realize we have to be part of, and partners with, the community. We need to listen to their values about what it means to be a good officer,” he said.
“This was an attempt to make sure citizens have a voice in who shows up at their door when they call the police.”
McLay said he was very impressed by the number of citizens who volunteered to serve on the panel because it was a huge commitment. Not only did they have to submit to a detailed background check, but they also had to undergo extensive training.
“First, they had to go through eight hours of training related to keeping personal bias in check—the same training all our officers are going through. Then they had to put in two 8-hour days, and some did more,” he said.
“I’m really pleased with the number of volunteers. Anyone who did this deserve a round of applauds.”
Public Safety Department Public Information Officer Sonya Toler said the response to the request for volunteers was brisk enough that they cut off applications at 39 and accepted 38.
“We were still getting calls to participated well after we’d reached the number we needed,” she said.
Brandi Fisher, founder of the Alliance for Police Accountability, said that is an understatement. Her organization put out an email blast about the initiative on July 7.
“By the time I put it out, they were already full. So I have some questions about the process they used because I wanted to volunteer, myself,” she said.
“I’m curious about the demographics, too. Where did these people come from who are supposed to be from the community?”
Toler said she did not have any demographic data on the panelists, though the applications ask for address, age, sex and race.
(Send comments to cmorrow@newpittsburghcourier.com.)
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