11 Investigates: Authorities provide more information on closed Pittsburgh police stations

PITTSBURGH — Veteran Pittsburgh police officers tell 11 Investigates they have never seen anything like this.

They say the zone stations have always been open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

But that’s not the case anymore.

We knew the six zone stations would close to the public in the early morning hours between 2:30 am and 7 am.

RELATED COVERAGE >>> 11 Investigates: Pittsburgh police overnight staffing to be reduced

Pittsburgh police chief Larry Scirotto announced that when he unveiled the new staffing plan.

But we had no idea that some of them would shut down in the middle of the day.

The sign in the lobby of the police station on Thursday afternoon in Allentown said it all.

RELATED COVERAGE >>> Pittsburgh police station found closed during the day raises concern among residents

“The station is currently closed. Use the blue box to dial 911.”

Officers were still out patrolling but there was no one to answer calls or talk to people who showed up for help.

“Normally those will be staffed but we allow the supervisors latitude,” said Assistant Pittsburgh police chief Richard Ford, who indicated that the officer assigned to the desk at Zone Three was sent to the funeral of a homicide victim.

“We oftentimes will provide security and surveillance for these types of events because there’s a propensity for more violence,” said Ford.

But the closing confused some who showed up at the police station expecting to get help.

We spoke with one woman who came to file a theft report.

“I was pretty upset because whenever you have something you’re reporting, a lot of times it’s a time-sensitive thing,” said the woman, who didn’t want to reveal her identity.

Another woman tried to drop off a protection from abuse order she had just obtained so the police could serve it.

No one answered the door, so she used the call box and a supervisor eventually showed up.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala was recently critical of the Pittsburgh police staffing changes.

“Is there any other large city in the country that’s a part-time police department? Does that make any sense to you guys? It doesn’t to me. I don’t understand what he’s (police chief) doing,” said Zappala.

Pittsburgh police union president Robert Swartzwelder also weighed in on the closing of Zone Three during the middle of the afternoon.

“We can close a police station when citizens and taxpayers need immediate service, but we won’t shut down the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Where are our priorities?” said Swartzwelder.

The staffing changes are all part of Chief Scirotto’s new plan partly to deal with a declining number of officers.

The department that had more than a thousand officers five years ago is down to 740 now.

The chief wants officers to only respond to in-progress emergencies.

All other calls will be handled by the telephone reporting unit.

Victims will call the TRU and file a report over the phone.

An officer will then eventually follow up with the victim at a later time.

“Operating more efficiently is utilizing your officers in a way where they’re going to be readily available for the calls, they should be available,” said Assistant Chief Ford.

The police union president pointed out St. Patrick’s Day because he said some officers are being forced to work overtime for the festivities.

Law enforcement sources tell 11 Investigates that the Hill District station has been forced to close to the public on some afternoons and that many of the Zone stations are also being shut down on the weekends because they don’t have desk officers.

Officers are still out patrolling those areas, but no one is manning the stations to deal with phone calls, walk-ins, or protection from abuse orders that are faxed to the stations.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

©2024 Cox Media Group