11 Investigates: Residents frustrated by Pittsburgh police changes, lack of city response

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police announced a series of changes to the way police respond to incidents last week, but people living in one neighborhood tell 11 Investigates that they felt neglected even before those changes were announced.

Chief Investigator Rick Earle spoke with residents in one part of the city who said the lack of police response was just the latest disappointment they’ve faced.

Some of those residents told Earle they are frustrated and feel like they’ve been abandoned by the city.

They said the change in the way police respond to calls was the last straw.

Ginny Hamer-Kropf: They were pulling at the doors.

Earle: Trying to get in?

Kropf: Trying to get in.

While checking her surveillance camera one morning, Hamer-Kropf, of Sheraden, saw several people trying to get into her car overnight.

Another neighbor also captured them on video attempting the same thing.

Kropf called 911 and because it was not an in-progress emergency call, they told her to take the video to the police station.

“I walked in there and all they said was, ‘Oh yeah, we know these guys,’ and I went, ‘Okay,’ like puzzled. ‘Oh yeah, we caught them last week but they’re already out, so there’s really nothing we can do,’” said Hamer-Kropf, who said police didn’t even take a report.

It’s all part of the new policing policy implemented by Chief Larry Scirotto, to improve officer wellness while dealing with an unprecedented shortage of officers.

Officers will now only respond to in-progress emergency calls.

>> Big changes to Pittsburgh Bureau of Police staffing are in effect

All other incidents will be referred to the telephone reporting unit.

Those reports will be forwarded to the appropriate zones and then followed up by officers or detectives when they are available.

When we questioned the chief about the attempted car break-ins in Sheraden, he said officers should have taken a report.

“I don’t want our officers to ever say nothing we can do. We have a role and our role is to file the appropriate charges,” said Scirotto.

Kropf, who’s on the Sheraden Community Council, said she’s hit the same dead end when calling 3-1-1 or the mayor’s office to report abandoned vehicles, cars illegally blocking crosswalks, rundown vacant houses, and overgrown weeds and trash piling up in her neighborhood.

Kropf: I’m getting zero response from Gainey’s office.

Earle: Did you hear anything back from them?

Kropf: No.

“I would say the west end of the city is the forgotten community, so forgotten that no one understands our pain and our frustration,” said Bessy Miller, also of Sheraden.

Miller, who runs a recreation program in Elliot, grew up in the city and has lived in Sheraden for more than 30 years.

“It’s like no one takes pride in anything they do with the services that we’re getting. so we look like we live in a slum area,” said Miller.

Earle took their concerns straight to the mayor, who said the 3-1-1 complaint line which received more than 100,000 calls last year, is still a work in progress.

“We still got some kinks we have to work out, absolutely, but we have to do better about how we respond when people reach out to us,” said Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey.

Gainey told Earle he was unaware of the issues raised by the residents, but he promised to look into them, acknowledging that it’s a safety and quality-of-life issue.

“Thanks for letting me know that. We’ll go back, we will look at 311. Rick, you know like I know, if there’s anything we can do to resolve that issue we will definitely resolve it. I’ll make sure my director of 3-1-1 looks at the complaints and we will see what we can get done immediately,” said Gainey.

Update: After we brought the concerns to the Mayor, Kropf finally got a call back from the city today.

But it was actually in response to a 3-1-1 complaint she made two years ago about low-hanging trees blocking sidewalks.

While it may have taken some time, it does appear the city is beginning to take notice and action.

Earle will continue to follow this and report on any progress made by the Mayor’s office.

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