African-American community leaders had visceral reactions to the announcement today of Pittsburgh police Chief Cameron McLay’s resignation.
Many were stunned. Some cried. Adrienne Young said it felt “like someone kicked me in the stomach.”
“I was very upset because the only thing I could think of was all the good work that he had initiated was now going to go down the drain, and that we were going to go backwards,” said Ms. Young, executive director of the Tree of hope and vice president of public safety council No. 5.
Ms. Young was among representatives of various community organizations that held a press conference Friday evening in front of Pittsburgh police headquarters on the North Side to express their disappointment in Chief McLay’s departure.
At the same time as leaders touted Chief McLay’s “progressive” policies and his willingness to work with the community, they lamented that rank and file police officers didn’t support the chief or his ideas and imparted fears that the police bureau would take steps backward in his absence.
Chief McLay’s tenure in Pittsburgh, which lasted slightly longer than two years, was not without controversy. He often butted heads with the union that represents the city’s police officers and most recently was under investigation for giving a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia while in uniform, potentially breaking a federal law.
But Chief McLay was well-received in the local African-American community, where one leader described the chief as “a bold, confident leader who knew what needed to be done.”
Chief McLay inherited a police force with low morale whose previous chief had been indicted for failing to file federal income tax returns among other crimes. Tim Stevens, chairman and CEO of the Black Political Empowerment Project, said that Chief McLay worked to rebuild the reputation of the police force and its relationship with the community.
Mr. Stevens said he and other community leaders were devastated when they heard that Chief McLay was resigning because they did not want to abandon the policies that the chief had introduced to the city’s police force, such as training in less-than-lethal methods.
He noted that while incidents of police brutality have led to violence and unrest in cities across the country in the past couple of years, Pittsburgh did not have a similar experience while Chief McLay was at the helm.
“Many of us were not only saddened, we were quite emotional, distressed, upset, disappointed and sensing that today is a sad day for our city,” Mr. Stevens said of the news of Chief McLay’s resignation. “To some that may seem dramatic, but to many of us it is not.”
The leaders were optimistic, however, that Assistant Chief Scott Schubert — who has been tapped as interim chief and could take over the role permanently — would keep the police bureau moving in the right direction
Ms. Young said she was at first dismayed about Chief McLay’s resignation, but her initial reaction changed when she learned that Assistant Chief Schubert was named interim chief and was in line to take over the position.
“I’ve known Scott Schubert probably for the last 20 years, and I’ve always known him to be fair and honest and a good police officer,” she said. “So it gives me great security to know that he will be stepping into Chief McLay’s place because we know that he upholds the same values as Chief McLay.”
Andrew Goldstein: agoldstein@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1352.
First Published: November 5, 2016, 3:05 a.m.
