A request by City of Pittsburgh police bureau officials at the level of Commander to join the union representing other uniformed police officers was rejected by a vote of the union.
By way of background, here is the breakout of uniformed police staff in the City of Pittsburgh by rank and number of full-time equivalents in the 2017 budget:
Police Chief 1
Deputy Chief 1
Assistant Chief 1
Commander 13
Lieutenant 26
Sergeant 90
Master Officer 356
4th year Officer 272
3rd Year Officer 68
2nd Year Officer 62
That totals to 892 uniformed officers. Along with 163 civilian staff, that brings the Bureau’s total to 1,055. The number of police officers eligible to reside outside the City in the residency area of 25 air miles by virtue of a Supreme Court decision on an arbitration award is 888 according to the City’s Human Resources Department.
Those would be ranks listed below commander, which the City classifies as managerial positions. The totals may be a bit different due to budget and actuals (for instance, even with 13 FTEs for commander in the budget, most news articles reported twelve, with one article listing the commanders by name.) The rejection by the union to have commanders join means that the commanders will be treated as the remainder of the Police Bureau when it comes to the residency requirement. The remaining employees of the Police Bureau, the other Bureaus in the Department of Public Safety (Fire, EMS, etc.) and the other departments comprising the City government have to reside in the City as a condition of employment.
