PITTSBURGH — More than 900 cars were stolen in the City of Pittsburgh last year, and the only officer left in the unit responsible for investigating car thefts retired last month.
Critical manpower shortages are taking an extraordinary toll on a number of specialty units in the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. Chief Investigator Rick Earle has been documenting this for the past several years.
Officers told Earle the specialty units are critical to the bureau’s mission, but because of manpower issues, they’ve been gutted. Officers, both current and retired, told Earle that it may be compromising your safety.
“I thought it was safe but they did it the old fashioned way, just break up the column and finally they got a screw driver in there and got it started,” said Father Jay Geisler, of Carrick.
Geisler, an Episcopal Priest and Pittsburgh Police Chaplain, became an improbable police statistic last year.
Both his car and his wife’s were two of 944 vehicles stolen within Pittsburgh in 2024.
And 11 Investigates learned the only officer in the unit that investigates car thefts retied in January.Days later, he was replaced, but the Auto Squad, which had as many as eight officers years ago, is now down to one, while the number of car thefts continues to rise.
During the past five years, 3,599 cars were stolen.
Earle spoke with retired Pittsburgh Police Commander Ed Trapp and former Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich about the auto squad unit.
Earle: Was the Auto Squad important? Was that an important unit?
Trapp: Oh yeah, absolutely. The amount of vehicle thefts and chop shops and all that stuff. You have to have an Auto Squad.
Hissrich said officers in the auto squad receive specialized training from insurance companies and the federal government.
“If it involves a ring, that ring may not only be in that zone, it may not only be in the city of Pittsburgh, it may be in other cities or suburban communities and you need to establish a liaison with your counterparts and you need to have that specialized training, and it may not mean anything until your car is stolen,” Hissrich said.
Sources told 11 Investigates that the department also received grant money to pay for other officers in the Auto Squad, but a city spokesperson said, “Due to staffing needs throughout the bureau, we were not able to utilize the grant to hire additional personnel in the Auto Squad at the moment.”
“What you’re seeing now is the effects of that. We no longer have the employees to report to car break-ins, car thefts,” City Councilman Anthony Coghill said.
Coghill said this lack of manpower is a result of no academy classes for nearly three years.
The city is back on track now with new classes, but resignations and retirements have outpaced new hires during the past several years, leaving the city short nearly 200 officers.
“We’re behind the 8 ball from past decisions, bad decisions that were made by not putting on classes and it’s coming back to bite us now,” Coghill said.
11 investigates also discovered there’s only one full-time officer left in the Collision Investigations unit.
Three other part-time officers with lesser certifications are helping out, according to an email from the Bureau.
The unit used to have nine officers.
11 Investigates also learned that the only full-time officer conducting commercial vehicle inspections transferred to another unit, leaving two part-time officers while the department searches for a full-time replacement.
Sources told 11 Investigates that officers in that unit used to conduct several hundred inspections a year, but they said that number dropped below 100 last year.
Sources also expressed concern that not many are being done now because of the reduction in manpower.
Retired Commander Trapp told Earle that commercial vehicle inspections play a key safety role for all drivers and pedestrians.
“You want unsafe trucks on the roads, overloaded ones and then if there’s damage, accidents, whatever, they come out,” said Trapp, while explaining the critical function of inspections.
Earle also questioned Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt about the critical shortage in the specialty units.
Earle: Is it getting to a point where you don’t have these specialty units and it’s a safety concern?
Schmidt: It’s not a safety concern. We still have very dedicated officers in those units doing work.
Schmidt did acknowledge that the ranks of the specialty units have dwindled and he said the Bureau is relying more on detectives in the six zone stations throughout the city to help with the workload, such as investigating car thefts.
Earle: Are they overwhelmed because they have to handle issues in the zones as well?
Schmidt: Most of our staff is overwhelmed at times. It’s a busy city and we are dealing with a bit of a short staff issue.
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