Allegheny County officials propose banning tear gas, rubber bullets

Allegheny County and Pittsburgh officials plan to introduce separate police reform ordinances Tuesday that include measures limiting the use of force by police in nonviolent protest situations.

A bill sponsored by Allegheny County Councilwomen Bethany Hallam and Olivia Bennett would ban the use of so-called less-lethal force, including tear gas and rubber bullets, to disperse a crowd. Police who violate the ordinance would be subject to a maximum $300 fine and 30-day jail sentence for each violation.

The ordinance is drawing an outcry from police and local law enforcement support groups.

“It’s like throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” said Allegheny County Sheriff William Mullen, adding that deputies are equipped to use those means for crowd control but never have. “Less-lethal weapons are there to save peoples’ lives so police don’t have to use lethal force.”

Hallam said she and Bennett crafted the legislation after seeing police in Pittsburgh and across the country use tear gas, rubber bullets and other nonlethal means to break up crowds protesting the death of George Floyd. She said nonviolent protesters have been injured by police using those tactics.

“I notice they never say nonlethal,” she said. “Just because it’s less lethal than bullets does not mean that it is nonlethal. The job of the police is to arrest those folks who are actually breaking the law and not punish the hundreds or sometimes thousands of folks who are actually exercising their First Amendment right to protest.”

Cities across the country are considering major police reforms in wake of Floyd’s death while being arrested by Minneapolis police and the daily protests it has produced. Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday announced proposals to implement more training, transparency and oversight of Pennsylvania police departments. Minneapolis City Council has announced plans to disband the police department.

In Pittsburgh, Councilman Ricky Burgess proposed three ordinances that would provide funds for crime and violence-reduction programs, prohibit the acquisition of military-style equipment and weapons, and require city police officers and police civilian employees to intervene if they witness another officer or employee violating a person’s constitutional rights.

A fourth bill, sponsored by Councilman Bruce Kraus, would authorize the hiring of a Washington, D.C., consulting firm for $25,000 to assess use of force by police and craft a plan to address it.

Robert Swartzwelder, president of Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge 1, said officers are required by federal law to intervene if they witness a violation of constitutional rights.

“If I witness an unconstitutional use of force, by law, I have to intervene,” he said. “We do not need an ordinance to tell us that.”

Mayor Bill Peduto, who supports the city ordinances, said his administration has introduced new programs for officers, including implicit bias training, community policing initiatives and the use of body cameras. He said more change is needed.

In an interview with The Appeal, broadcast live Monday on Twitter and Facebook, Peduto said he would consider allocating more funding, including from the city police budget, for social programs that would limit police response to such things as homelessness.

Peduto said he would also consider limiting the use of less-lethal tactics during protests, but noted they can be effective in life-or-death situations.

“When you ban completely, are you taking away that ability for it to be used strategically if it’s in a situation where somebody’s going to be killed, and your only other option is to use lethal means and shoot them?” he said. “You can’t just say, ‘OK, you can kill that person.’ ”

The mayor also said he would not support disbanding Pittsburgh police.

“What we have to do is just be more thoughtful in all of the operations, and are there parts of what we now give to policing that should be given to social workers and counselors who can work the streets and provide safety and security and even a better level of help for people who desperately need that,” he said. “In my heart, I believe there is a role for police. I have a real hard time believing that we would be a safer society without police officers.”