City councilman calls for updated Pittsburgh police cruisers

PITTSBURGH — You see them on the streets or in your neighborhood. Pittsburgh police cruisers are always on the move and running up the miles.

“They are very old, very outdated. They are taking engines and belts from other vehicles to keep vehicles on the street the necessary vehicles we need on the street,” said Councilman Anthony Coghill. “They are kind of holding them together with bubble gum.”

It’s a safety concern for the public who may be on the other side of an emergency call.

“That’s a little alarming, doesn’t make me feel very comforted,” said Taylor Lewand, who lives in Pittsburgh.

Coghill told Channel 11 it’s a problem years in the making.

“Mistakes we’ve made in the past; we’ve purchased a lot of vehicles all at the same time, so here when the fleet goes bad it all goes bad at once where we should have staggered that out,” Coghill said.

While City Council started the process to buy 60 new cruisers last year, inflation and supply chain issues only got them 29. Now Coghill is proposing to reallocate money this week.

“We took $900,000 from the earned income tax and we are going to buy the 31 vehicles we had originally ordered for the police department and couldn’t afford,” Coghill said.

But that’s just a start as he said all public safety departments are in need of a new fleet. It’s going to come down to tough decisions and rebudgeting to make this a priority, Coghill said.

“We are going to have to look at other means and other pots of money in order to make the fire and firefighters — to make sure they have the proper vehicles they need to get around and not worry about breaking down on the way to an emergency,” Coghill said

Coghill is proposing a nearly $1 million budget amendment this week for the police vehicles. The goal is to have council vote to approve it next week to get those vehicles purchased as soon as possible.

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