Sources: Gainey to announce plan tripling police presence Downtown
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The Gainey administration has heard the complaints of inaction about the state of Downtown -- the crime, the disorder and the filth. But now KDKA-TV has learned the mayor is set to unveil a plan to triple the police presence when those problems are most evident.
For months now, people who live and work Downtown have complained there are too few police and a lack of enforcement. Sources say that may soon change.
With daylight gunfire, those with mental illness and experiencing homelessness, aggressive panhandlers and garbage strewn on street corners, parts of Downtown have become unsavory and workers have been reluctant -- even fearful -- to return to the office.
"When you look at the mentally ill, the impaired and the homeless on the street, it's clear that they don't enforce the law," said John Conti of the Dickie and McCamey law firm.
Conti details several incidents where female associates have allegedly been accosted and followed, and he's just one of more than a dozen Downtown business leaders who have complained of inaction on the part of the city.
"The police presence to my observation and the observation of the people who work here is frankly negligible and I put this at the feet of the mayor and the administration. The response is not good in any measure," he said.
The city did clear out an open-air drug market and dismantled a homeless encampment but on Tuesday at council, Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak said it is prepared to do more to make Downtown safe.
"We're presently working to increase the number of officers and the visibility of officers Downtown to address concerns," Pawlak said.
KDKA Investigates has learned next week at a community meeting, Mayor Ed Gainey will announce a plan to triple the police presence Downtown when the problems are most evident.
Sources say this will entail making Downtown a kind of precinct of its own with dedicated officers and assigned lieutenant and two sergeants. Each shift would increase from five to nine officers and those shifts would overlap in the late afternoon and early evening, thus tripling police presence at peak hours.
In addition, this and the previous administration had promised to ramp up a team of social workers to attend to those experiencing homelessness, mental illness and drug addiction who are often seen Downtown. The Gainey administration says this will happen this year and the people who live or work Downtown will try to hold them to it.
