Pittsburgh's police chief puts down his badge for a referee's whistle
Pittsburgh’s police chief has retired just a week after making the controversial announcement that he would add refereeing college basketball games to his calendar
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Pittsburgh's police chief retired Friday, just a week after announcing he would add refereeing college basketball games to his calendar — a move that raised concerns among some city leaders.
Chief Larry Scirotto, who had worked as a referee before becoming police chief last year, had maintained that officiating roughly 60 games this season would not interfere with his duties and offered to take a pay cut. But some city council members said they wanted more information before approving his salary for next year.
In his resignation letter, Scirotto said he did not want the issue to become a distraction for the department.
He was set to earn $187,000 next year as police chief. Veteran Division I basketball referees can earn more than $150,000 in a season while officiating dozens of games across multiple conferences. Less experienced referees earn far less.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey chose Scirotto to be the city's next police chief in May 2023. The mayor had said that Scirotto would not continue working as a referee.
“We had a conversation about this, and at this time, he will not being doing that,” Gainey said after appointing Scirotto.
Both the mayor and the chief have said recently that the plan was to revisit the refereeing job once Scirotto settled into the job and crime rates had dropped.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.