It has been nearly four years since the General Assembly amended language in the Second Class City Code (applicable to Pittsburgh only) pertaining to a residency requirement for Pittsburgh police (see this Brief detailing the change).
We wrote then that the debate over whether to allow Pittsburgh police to live outside the City limits would be heated. The debate has now reached the state Supreme Court, following arbitration, a home rule charter amendment on residency, and lower court decisions.
The arbitrator’s decision said that police would still be abiding by a residency requirement, but one that would let them reside anywhere within a 25 mile radius of Downtown Pittsburgh. That would open up a significantly larger area than having to reside in the City of Pittsburgh limits, which is what would be the standard given the home rule charter amendment.