Community organizer calls Pittsburgh Police Chief Larry Scirotto’s retirement “unfortunate”
CBS KDKA, 10/25/24: “A local community organizer pushing for radical changes in policing said Pittsburgh Police Chief Larry Scirotto’s sudden retirement is a loss for the city.
‘I was actually a little sad to hear it,’ said Tanisha Long, a community organizer with the Abolitionist Law Center in Pittsburgh.
Unlike past chiefs, Long said Scrirotto was willing to regularly listen to community organizers. Under the chief’s leadership, there were positive changes to disciplinary practices and steps made toward better accountability, Long said.
‘It’s unfortunate is the best way to put it,’ Long said. ‘I was like, they really bullied this man out of serving as the chief of police and doing what he loved.’
What the chief loved was reffing college basketball games. Doing so after promising Pittsburgh City Council he wouldn’t is where he ran into trouble.”