Councilman will publicly question Pittsburgh police chief about returning to officiating

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh’s Police Chief is responding to his controversial plan to return to officiating college basketball, as a city council member plans to call for a public hearing to question the Chief.

11 Investigates broke the story yesterday that Chief Larry Scirotto has already begun refereeing games.

Scirotto said it won’t interfere with his job as the top cop in Pittsburgh.

But now a city council member is calling for a public hearing to question the chief about his plans to ref up to 65 games during the upcoming season.

“I’ve built this organization in a way I believe it is currently structured today, I absolutely can lead the vision and direction of the department no matter where I sit,” Scirotto said.

Pittsburgh’s Police Chief on the Marty Griffin show on KDKA radio Friday morning defended his decision to return to officiating college basketball.

11 Investigates broke the story Thursday that Larry Scirotto refereed a Big Ten game in Michigan last Sunday, even though he said when he was hired last year he was done officiating basketball.

Earle questioned Scirotto on May 3, 2023, when he was introduced as chief.

Earle: Are you going to miss it?

Scirotto: You miss something you love but this is more important.

But Scirotto said he and Mayor Ed Gainey had an agreement they didn’t reveal at the time.

“I agreed at the time I would not officiate. We would revisit it when we had the belief that the department was in a much better place,” Scirotto said.

When he approached Gainey about returning to college basketball, Scirotto said he offered to resign but the Mayor told him he wanted him to stay.

They hatched a plan to promote Chris Ragland to Deputy Chief to cover for Scirotto.

Scirotto said he will use his personal and vacation time to ref.

But with 65 games during a five-month season, that comes out to 13 games per month. If one travel day is added in, that comes out to 26 days every month for five months. The Chief could be gone for 130 of the 150 days during those five months.

Earle questioned Council member Anthony Coghill about that.

Earle: That’s 26 days a month for five months he’s not here?

Coghill: Yes it seems like that would be hard to juggle.

Coghill said he will request that the chief appear at a public hearing to answer questions about exactly how much time he’ll be away, and if he’ll be able to handle both jobs.

“We need to know he’s going to be focused. I think he’s done a pretty good job up to this point and quite honestly I’d hate to lose him,” said Coghill.

Scirotto has faced questions about spending too much time officiating college basketball when he last worked in Pittsburgh as an assistant chief six years ago and when he was the chief in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Earle asked Scirotto and the city the if he will be here for that or if he’ll be away officiating.ng election week. Scirotto has canceled all vacation and personal days and ordered officers to work 12-hour shifts that week.

Earle asked Scirotto and the city the if he will be here for that or if he’d be away officiating.

Earle also asked Scirotto and the city how much vacation time he has.

So far, both Scirotto and the city have not responded to that request for information.

Scirotto earns $184,000 per year as chief, and according to multiple published reports, NCAA college basketball refs make anywhere from $1,000 to $2,500 per game.

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