PITTSBURGH – One week after a homeless man died after being tased by Pittsburgh Police, Republican Mayoral candidate Tony Moreno called for the enforcement of established policies and the re-funding of Pittsburgh Police in the wake of the preventable death of Jim Rogers.
“This was a worst-case scenario outcome, but unfortunately it was an inevitable one,” Moreno said. “The death of Jim Rogers is sad and tragic and incredibly preventable. There are policies in this department that are not being enforced that could have helped this situation, and Jim would still be with us.”
Allegheny County Police are investigating the use-of-force incident that occurred in the city’s Bloomfield neighborhood on Oct. 13. While responding to the alleged theft of a bicycle, police said Rogers became “non-compliant” and tasered him.
Rogers died the following day.
Moreno, a retired 24-year veteran Pittsburgh Police Officer, points towards $11 million that city officials redirected from the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police budget to group violence interventions and having social workers responding to calls — programs that were never put in place. Moreno said there’s no trace of what that money is actually being used for. Instead, he said, that money could be used for increased mental health training for existing police officers.
“I feel like I keep asking this question, but the people of Pittsburgh deserve to know: Where’s the money?” Moreno said. “There is zero accountability in the corrupt city government. The only way to change that is to change the leadership.”
The key to lowering crime is proactively addressing the financial struggles in Pittsburgh’s 90 neighborhoods, along with the issues of homelessness, addiction, and mental illness in these communities, he said — something he successfully prioritized during his 24-year career with the department. By partnering with business owners, local community organizations and mental health professionals, police could help homeless residents in crisis. A model has been presented to city leaders that would pair trained police officers with social workers to respond to mental health-related calls, but that plan has been rejected since 2012, Moreno said.
Like many of Pittsburgh’s most pressing problems, the issue is the result of a corrupt system that isn’t acting in the best interests of the city’s residents, Moreno added. City officials need to either return the funding to the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police or enact the policies and procedures that were put in place to help police with those dealing with mental illness.
“From the beginning of my campaign, I’ve said this is my worst nightmare,” Moreno said. “You have an unenforced existing proven policy that isn’t used by leadership who was appointed through a very politicized and corrupt process.
They do not have the knowledge, experience, ability or willpower to address mental illness in policing. This is an issue that direly needs to be addressed before we see more unnecessary harm in our city.”