Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey could announce his pick for the city’s next police chief in a matter of days. But before his nomination can become permanent, Pittsburgh’s City Council has promised a rigorous public review.
“There will be a public process,” City Council President Theresa Kail-Smith said Tuesday. “I want the public to understand we will do a public interview.”
In addition to council’s interview, Kail-Smith suggested the body may also decide to hold a public hearing on the nominee, allowing residents to weigh in. Her comments come as the names of three finalists swirl publicly online and in local news reports.
Pittsburgh has been without a permanent police chief since last summer when former Chief Scott Schubert left the job. Thomas Stangrecki has served as acting chief in the months since.
Multiple outlets, and WESA's own sources, report that Gainey’s choice for a new chief has been narrowed down to three men: former Pittsburgh Police officers Jason Lando and Larry Scirotto, and former Boise Police Chief Ryan Lee.
Lando, currently the chief of police in Frederick, Md., was an officer in Pittsburgh for more than two decades. He previously served as the Zone 5 commander.
Larry Scirotto rose to the ranks of assistant chief in Pittsburgh. He was appointed as chief of police in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. in 2021 before he was fired last spring. Scirotto was accused of using discriminatory hiring practices that favored non-white candidates. In a lawsuit filed last month against the city, Scirotto claims he was wrongfully terminated.
But most of the concern has centered around Ryan Lee, who served two decades with the Portland Police Bureau before he was appointed chief in Boise, Idaho. He resigned his position as chief of the Boise Police Department last year at the request of the city’s mayor.
That request came after Lee seriously injured a sergeant in the department during a staff meeting, according to the Idaho Statesman newspaper. A lawsuit filed by the sergeant claims Lee broke his neck. Ultimately an investigation determined there wasn’t enough evidence to convict Lee on felony charges “beyond a reasonable doubt.” A North Idaho prosecuting attorney described it as a "close call" to the local outlet, BoiseDev.
Kail-Smith said Lee’s background is of concern, but she would hold off on saying much about his candidacy until she heard firsthand from the Gainey administration whether he's their choice. If Lee is nominated, she said council would do its own thorough investigation.
“If it is Ryan Lee, I think that we need to look to see … the reality of those issues,” Kail-Smith said. “And if there are serious and significant issues with any appointment, we will always go over and work with the administration to try to get to a place where we're all good.”
Kail-Smith declined to speak on the quality of the city’s search for qualified candidates but said if Lee was indeed a finalist, “I question how did they get to that point in the first place. How did we get a name submitted that there are so many concerns [about]?”
Pittsburgh City Council approved an $80,000 contract with a California-based professional consulting firm last year to help the city find its next chief. Officials said at the time they hoped to appoint a new leader by the end of the year. That timeline has since been pushed back to this month.
A spokesperson for Gainey declined to comment on the list of finalists, but said the administration is still in “the final vetting stages.” She declined to confirm whether an offer has been made.
City Council must approve the mayor’s nominee, which means five members must be on board. In the meantime, Gainey could make the nominee an acting chief until council votes. The city would have 90 days from that appointment to confirm or reject the mayor’s choice.
Kail-Smith argued it’s important for council to have a separate process from the mayor’s selection. While council was offered a seat on the search committee, she said she declined the offer to allow members to have an independent process.
“I wanted to make sure that when we vote there was no bias or anything,” she said. Members would “have an interview based on whomever the mayor selected.”
Council will also have the final say on the police chief’s salary.
For now, Kail-Smith says council is “waiting for the mayor to send over his nominee,” which she suggested could happen as early as this week.
“Right now, we're dealing with speculation,” she said. “Until we see papers before city council, until we have an interview, until we do some research ourself.”
