DonateSearch

Pittsburgh City Council

From horses to drones, city police use all available tools.

Written by Amy Whipple

City police are flying into 2026 with nine new drones, and reaching back to the first days of policing with additional mounted officers.

This year, the city adopted a policy to allow police to use unmanned aircraft systems in the field. The bureau has now purchased four interior and five exterior drones to use for situational awareness.

Acting police chief Marty Devine said at the Nov. 18 budget meeting the drones were purchased to help officers understand the scale and scope of an incident, aid in search and rescue missions, including in response to Amber Alerts, as well as crime scene documentation.

Money for the drones came from the Confiscated Narcotics Trust Fund, which currently has a $1.5 million balance. The fund can only be used for unique purchases and cannot be used for routine general expenses.

General expenses in the $118.4 million preliminary operating budget include 800 full-time officers. Eighty-four of those positions are currently unfilled, according to council budget director Peter McDevitt, which has contributed to the city spending more than $15 million in overtime pay.

As a result of ongoing recruitment efforts, two academy classes in 2025 have graduated 53 new officers onto the force.

There are also eight new part-time riders for the mounted unit.

Divine also said that the bureau will continue its Pittsburgh Police Cares program to try to facilitate community outreach and collaboration. Toward this end, officers took part in $200,000 in training and professional development, which Divine said was a “critical” allocation.

Connections to this story

Topics:
Public Safety & EMS
Governments:
Pittsburgh City Council
Public meetings:
City Council · November 24, 2025

More surveys

Have your say on more of the stories we’re covering.

Pittsburgh City Council

Fire budget will not cover free smoke detector program.

While the image of city firefighters is of them rescuing residents from raging infernos, Fire Chief Darryl Jones said during a Nov. 20 budget meeting the real work is saving lives before the trucks…

Pittsburgh City Council

Pittsburgh Water bills sink budget.

During the dry talk about budgets, city council learned that Pittsburgh is drowning in unpaid water bills.

Pittsburgh City Council

Update on “protected classes.”

Council did not cast its final vote to simplify language in the city code for protected classes. Council Member Erika Strassburger of Upper Squirrel Hill said the legal department advised them to…

Pittsburgh City Council

Community benefits agreement reinforced for Lower Hill.

After the Pittsburgh Penguins skated away from redeveloping the Lower Hill Special Planning District, last week, the council member representing the area moved to make sure the community benefits…