Allegheny County

Pittsburgh Bureau of Police still without new contract, waiting on city council for final vote

PITTSBURGH — It’s no secret the Pittsburgh police force has struggled with retaining officers.

“Our police officers have not had a raise or a significant raise and have not kept up with the other raises other unions have had. To me seeing them get paid for the job they do which is more dangerous is showing them we value them,” said Theresa Kail-Smith, City Council President.

In the new FOP union contract, officers are expected to receive a 9% raise. While the union voted and passed the contract in early March, it’s now up to City Council to ratify it.

“Tomorrow we will have a discussion in executive session to look at the contract to go over the details of the contract then council will come out and vote,” Kail-Smith said.

It’s the first time in over 20 years that the city and union agreed to a contract without going to arbitration.

“We’ve done a lot of great work around public safety. Nonviolent shootings are down 28%, homicides are down 11%. We went five weekends so far this year without a shooting, that is tremendous progress,” said Maria Montano, Mayor’s Office Spokesperson.

The Mayor’s office said they will soon have a chief of police to help build upon the new contract if passed by helping to recruit and retain officers and continue to tackle the violence the city has seen this year.

“I can say the mayor met with the finalists yesterday along with leaders from the bureau as well as members of the community to do final round of interviews,” Montano said.

While city council is expected to vote on the FOP contract on Wednesday. The mayor is expecting to make the new police chief announcement in two weeks.

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