The optics are not good:
The City of Pittsburgh’s handsomely paid police chief has cut a deal with Mayor Ed Gainey to return to part-time NCAA basketball officiating – while holding on to the chief’s job.
That, despite an agreement upon Larry Scirotto’s May 2023 hiring that he would forego refereeing to concentrate on his new job.
But Scirotto was reportedly ready to forego his police chief job had the new deal not been reached. By the way, the chief returned to officiating days before the reversal was made public last Thursday.
Now, though he has had his critics – think the police union – many observers have given Scirotto high marks for tackling the police bureau’s myriad problems, especially in light of thinning ranks brought about by a high retirement rate and budget constraints.
But being a police chief of what’s still a large American city — with large American city problems – is a full-time job requiring a chief’s full-time attention.
That’s never mind, too, that Scirotto has designated a stand-in for when he’s doing his side gig on the hardwood (with questions about the prudence of a new “deputy chief” position and how it will be funded).
Oh, and another fact of the matter is that Scirotto, with an annual salary of $185,400, is not being paid chump change.
What he’ll make returning to part-time refereeing college hoops is unclear. We’ve seen supposed informed (and some likely uninformed) speculation regarding the sum.
But the chief was clear that basketball officiating long has been his passion. And if he were ready to chuck his police job, the per-game pay was either quite good or he thought he could make it his full-time gig.
Indeed, some have argued that what Larry Scirotto does on his own time is his own business. Perhaps, if he were in private business. But Scirotto is a public employee, a public servant, hired to run the largest police force in Western Pennsylvania.
While we can appreciate Chief Scirotto’s passion, he signed on to become Pittsburgh’s top law officer, a 24/7 job, without such a distraction. And that’s the deal that should remain in place. Or he should depart the city’s employ.
Mayor Gainey should have known better.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
