Pittsburgh City Council overwhelmed with calls for police reform

Messages to Pittsburgh City Council calling for a reduced police budget are arriving daily by the hundreds. Council members responded Tuesday by saying they would work to enact police reform, but they aren’t inclined to disband the police department.

Councilwoman Deb Gross of Highland Park said she’s received nearly 3,000 emails calling for the “defunding of police.” Councilman Anthony Coghill said he’s received hundreds.

The issue has divided the nation since the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody, triggering outbreaks of racial unrest across the country and calls for drastic police reform.

Divisiveness has filtered down to the children of the city council president.

“I hear from my own children,” said President Theresa Kail-Smith. “One is a police officer and one is telling me to defund them.”

Local activists have defined police defunding as redirecting money budgeted for police to efforts that would increase racial equality and address community needs, including housing, transportation, health care and employment.

Gross said her office has been overwhelmed with email.

“In the mail box so far that we’ve sorted — they are still coming in — 2,889 emails requesting the defunding of Pittsburgh police,” she said, apologizing to writers for a lack of response. “To those constituents and concerned citizens, just know that we have not gotten back to reply to your email yet, but we are working on it and we hear you loud and clear.”

Councilman Bruce Kraus said older people in his South Side council district are fearful that the city will eliminate the police department.

“I just really want to take the opportunity here to say that’s not going to happen,” Kraus said. “I really want to reassure our senior population to rest easy. We’ll do the due diligence that’s necessary to make certain that we welcome and incorporate the changes that are necessary, that need to be made, and at the same time ensure that police officers are there and are available to protect and serve.”

Coghill said many of the emails he’s received were supportive of police. He said police critics should be mindful that in 2009 three officers were killed after responding to a domestic dispute in Stanton Heights. He said the only way change can happen is with input from the Public Safety Department and officers.

“I just want to make sure that the Pittsburgh police know I’ve got their back,” Coghill said. “To have any conversation without them is just kind of moot for me and really goes nowhere.”