Pittsburgh’s 911 Policy Follows Police Recruitment Struggle

Pittsburgh’s recent decision to reroute early morning emergency calls comes one year after the mayor planned to triple police presence downtown. The policy change, announced Feb. 22, means calls received between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. for crimes not in progress – including theft, harassment and criminal mischief – will reroute to the Telephone Reporting Unit. The unit is staffed from 7 a.m. until 3 a.m. the following day, so incidents occurring in the four-hour window will be collected for an officer to follow up with during the morning shift.