TITLE
Motion expressing the Sense of Council of Allegheny County urging the Allegheny County Police, Sheriff, and District Attorney to investigate establishing a street level drug and firearm interdiction unit based upon the City of Pittsburgh Police Department's Impact Squad to cooperate with existing and planned law enforcement initiatives within the County, and to endeavor to increase their level of assistance to local municipal police departments throughout the County.
BODY
WHEREAS, the City of Pittsburgh Police Department has established a street level drug and firearm interdiction unit called the Impact Squad consisting of 19 detectives and two sergeants, which patrol areas within the City that have been identified as having high crime rates due to repeated calls for police service for drug or firearm related activity; and
WHEREAS, the City's Impact Squad has been an unmitigated success, generating two to five arrests for each patrol, and accounting for the vast majority of the City's 3500 drug-related arrests in 2004; and
WHEREAS, the Allegheny County Police are permitted to undertake enforcement activities in municipalities within Allegheny County when requested by a municipality, and has already created some specialized units, such as the SWAT Team, that provide enforcement services to municipalities upon request; and
WHEREAS, some communities within Allegheny County do not have a sufficient tax base or resources to support an adequate police force to patrol and control crime within its jurisdiction; and
WHEREAS, Allegheny County has the Allegheny County Police Department, which has the motivation and resources to adequately combat crime in these communities such that any community experiencing overwhelming criminal problems should have as an option a specialized Allegheny County Police Department unit to be used to control crime; and
WHEREAS, according to the Pennsylvania State Police, the 152 officers of the County Police made only 290 arrests of adults from January of 2005 through May of 2005, whereas the 900 officers of the City of Pittsburgh Police made 5,117 adult arrests and the 45 full time and 9 part time officers of the McKeesport Police Department made 658 adult arrests in the same period, statistics that indicate that the County Police may be underutilized in some areas;
NOW THEREFORE, IT IS MOVED, AND IT IS THE SENSE OF THE COUNCIL OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY, that this Body supports studying the feasibility of creating a new unit within the Allegheny County Police to perform street level drug and firearm interdiction and to be patterned after the City of Pittsburgh Police Department's Impact Squad, so long as the newly created unit would function cooperatively with current and future law enforcement initiatives in Allegheny County. Council further supports the use of the County Police's resources to inform local municipalities of the capabilities of the County Police, and to provide assistance when requested by local municipalities, particularly those experiencing difficulties in effectively patrolling for drug and firearm offenses using their existing municipal police forces.