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Ordinance amending the Pittsburgh City Code, Title I, Administrative, Article VII: Procedures, Chapter 160, Investigations of Police Conduct, by adding Section 160.02, Applicable Incidents Requiring Paid Administrative Leave.
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Whereas, police officers often face contentious, dangerous, and sometimes life-threatening situations during performance of their duties; and
Whereas, such situations require police officers to make split second judgments regarding the use of force and how much is appropriate under the circumstances; and
Whereas, certain events merit examination of a police officer's judgment regarding the level of force used at the time of the contentious, dangerous, and/or life-threatening incident; and
Whereas, the City of Pittsburgh wants to ensure all of its citizens that in the event that use of force by a police officer is questioned by the Bureau, such officer will be put on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of a thorough investigation.
The Council of the City of Pittsburgh hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The Pittsburgh City Code, Title I, Administrative, Article VII: Procedures, Chapter 160, Investigations of Police Conduct, is hereby amended by adding Section 160.02, Applicable Incidents Requiring Paid Administrative Leave.
Chapter 160: Investigations of Police Conduct
ยง 160.02 Applicable Incidents Requiring Paid Administrative Leave
(a) For purposes of this Chapter,
"Applicable Incident" shall be defined as any incident involving the use of force by a Bureau police officer or officer(s) acting in an official law enforcement capacity.
"Bureau" shall be defined as Pittsburgh Bureau of Police.
(b) The Chief of the Bureau shall refer any Applicable Incident to the City's Office of Municipal Investigations ("OMI") when the corresponding use of force report reasonably indicates a possible violation of a Bureau policy. During the resulting OMI investigation, the officer(s) involved in such Applicable Incident shall, at the discretion of the Chief of Police and the Public Safety Director, be placed on paid administrative leave for a period of time to be determined by the Chief of the Bureau. Such paid administrative leave, in and of itself, shall not be considered a suspension or disciplinary action taken against the officer, but rather shall be deemed an administrative course of action relieving the officer(s) from further performance of field duties while providing the Bureau with time necessary to conduct an objective investigation of the Applicable Incident.