Pittsburgh police chief returning to refereeing NCAA basketball games despite assurances that he wouldn't as top cop
Megan Guza / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh police Chief Larry Scirotto has again taken up a part-time gig as an NCAA basketball referee despite assurances from Mayor Ed Gainey and the chief himself at the outset of his tenure that he would not ref while head of the bureau.
“We had a conversation about this, and at this time, he will not being doing that,” Mr. Gainey said May 3, 2023, as he introduced Chief Scirotto as his pick for top cop.
The chief on Thursday announced that he’d be “getting back on the basketball court” as a college basketball referee in “a few days.” He said he would address any questions next week.
It appears, however, that he’s already gotten back to the court: Chief Scirotto is listed as a referee in the box score for Sunday’s Michigan State vs. Northern Michigan game at the Superior Dome in Marquette, Mich.
A spokeswoman for the police department said she didn’t have any information regarding the discrepancy. She referred questions to the chief during his media availability next week.
Mr. Gainey, in a statement Thursday evening, seemed to imply Chief Scirotto had approached the city about leaving his position to pursue the refereeing gig.
“When Chief Larry Scirotto approached us about possibly needing to step down from his role in order to pursue this part-time refereeing gig, I said there must be a better way,” Mr. Gainey said. “He’s too good, and we are making too much progress, not to keep up the fight.
“Thinking outside of the box has allowed us to strengthen and modernize our Bureau of Police, and we’re excited to see where this initiative takes us.”
Chief Scirotto said he’ll be refereeing on his “own time to ensure no cost to the city.” It does, however, mean creating a new commander staff role of deputy chief “to execute on decisions or respond to emergencies for those few hours when I’m on the court.”
The chief said he has tapped current Assistant Chief Chris Ragland to take on that role.
It wasn’t immediately clear how Assistant Chief Ragland’s new title would affect the bureau’s budget and whether his assistant chief position would be filled. The bureau’s 2024 budget and 2025 preliminary budget include three assistant chiefs but not a deputy chief.
“I love the city of Pittsburgh, I am proud of the progress the force is making, and I am committed to continuing to fight for your safety and the well-being of our officers,” Chief Scirotto said in his statement.
It wasn’t clear what kind of workload he would carry in terms of games refereed or how much travel will be involved.
Bob Swartzwelder, president of the union representing Pittsburgh officers, said he found out about the chief’s returning to refereeing when someone shared with him a video of Chief Scirotto’s name being mentioned as a referee in the Michigan State-Northern Michigan game.
He questioned the decision to create a new deputy chief position when the city has budgeted for 100 fewer officers in 2025 than its full complement of 900.
He said the bureau was “promised a leader who would be there for us throughout the duration of his tenure [and] devote 100% of his time to being chief.”
This isn’t the first time Chief Scirotto’s longtime side gig has raised concerns.
He was appointed chief in Fort Lauderdale in June 2021 and within months, some city officials raised concerns.
In late 2021, the Sun-Sentinel reported that some within the department questioned the appropriateness of the second job. But the city manager told the newspaper that Mr. Scirotto had permission to referee as long as he was off-duty and it didn’t interfere with his day job as chief.
He ended up being fired from that job after an investigation into alleged discriminatory hiring practices.
When Chief Scirotto was named to helm the Pittsburgh department, he immediately addressed the past criticism regarding his side job.
He said returning to his former role as one of the well-known college referees would not happen, an assurance echoed by Mr. Gainey.