Council advances police leadership training, K9 units for NFL Draft and Land Bank staffing

This Week’s Top Agenda Items

• Pittsburgh Police to launch  leadership training after national review finds "a leadership issue here"
• Pittsburgh plans to borrow K9 units for NFL Draft policing
• Land Bank seeks staffing funds as inventory grows to 5,000 parcels with thousands more eligible 

Pittsburgh Police to launch leadership training after national review finds "a leadership issue here" 🔗

 Pittsburgh’s Bureau of Police (PBP) is using an Indianapolis model to train its ranking officers how to lead.

 Council voted at the March 25 committee meeting to move forward with a request from the director of public safety to authorize a $20,000 Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency grant to provide police leadership training.

Zone Three Commander Jeff Abraham said the bureau went through a management assessment in 2024 from police departments across the country. “The biggest thing that they told us is that we have a leadership issue here,” he said. “It’s a lot of passing the buck.”

Police Chief Jason Lando said at his Jan. 28 interview with council, “I think morale, more than money, is one of the biggest things in policing that you need.”

In the past supervisors received brief, generalized training. This program, Abraham said, covers real-world scenarios such as how to supervise officers who are going through cancer treatment or who are in the media.

“All the scenarios that they’ve gone through, I’ve gone through as a supervisor,” he said.

Approximately 50 officers have gone through the training, but with 200 members of the department in supervisory positions, Abraham said, “It’s going to take a while to rebuild the culture of what we’re looking for in leadership here.”

The academy also offers training to police from the county and Duquesne University. Abraham said he hopes it will become a profitable operation in the future.

Pittsburgh plans to borrow K9 units for NFL Draft policing 🔗

 In the next step of NFL Draft preparation, Pittsburgh City Council agreed to bring in the big dogs. 

Pittsburgh Police requested council’s approval to enter into intergovernmental cooperation agreements with 18 municipalities and agencies to bring in between 60 and 90 explosive-detection canines and their handlers. The dogs will be used to continually monitor the site for the duration of the event.

 During the March 25 committee meeting, council amended the submitted legislation to prohibit assisting municipalities from partaking in immigration enforcement activities while they’re in the city.

Bob Charland of the South Side, who proposed the amendment, said, “It’s not a huge amendment on the bill, but I think it’s significant.”

Deb Gross of Highland Park, said at least three of the cooperating municipalities, including Beaver County, Washington County and Center Township, have agreements with the federal government to actively collaborate with immigration enforcement.

Four of the participants listed in the memorandum of understanding, however, are federal agencies: the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco, and Explosives, the Transportation Security Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Police.

Council did not discuss whether the city had the authority to enforce the amendment with those agencies.

Land Bank seeks staffing funds as inventory grows to 5,000 parcels with thousands more eligible🔗

As the Pittsburgh Land Bank’s inventory grows, so does its staffing needs.

 The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) requested $157,175 to help cover land bank staffing costs. Council initially allocated the money as part of the 2025 capital budget, but it went unused because the URA spent down its remaining federal pandemic dollars instead.

Sally Stadelman, director of the land bank, said the money will cover between 37% and 50% of staffing costs as well as administrative fees paid to the URA, depending on whether the land bank hires a real estate development manager before the end of the year.

Stadelman said a shift in inventory from primarily land to primarily structures requires in-house expertise for structural review, bidding out stabilization work and creating work plans for properties listed for sale.

Last year, council approved a cooperative agreement with the land bank, the county, and school district. This allows the land bank to use sheriff’s sales and helps prevent abandoned structures from deteriorating to the point of needing to be demolished.

According to Stadelman, the three taxing bodies now hold approximately 5,000 parcels in the land bank. There are an additional 7,000 tax-delinquent structures that are eligible for tax foreclosure. While there are about 2,000 properties on the condemnation list, she said that about a half only require stabilization and don’t have to be demolished.

Council is scheduled to vote on the request next week.