During a brief pause in her whirlwind day in Pittsburgh, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch took time to meet with reporters to discuss Pittsburgh’s role in her national Community Policing Tour.
She said she is impressed by the cooperative work in which U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania David Hickton and Pittsburgh Police Chief Cameron McLay are engaged in to improve policing locally.
“I’m proud of what U.S. Attorney Hickton has done focusing on accountability in policing,” she said. “And with Pittsburgh being one of the city’s in our National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice initiative, we will be increasing our contact and bringing resources to focus on implicit bias training and data collection and analysis.”
“When it comes to community violence, the communities want intervention, but they want it in a way that doesn’t brand everyone as being involved,” she added. “For community policing to work, you’ve got to know the community. Because if you have to go in, community involvement is vital.”
Earlier in the day, Lynch spoke at the centennial national convention of the Fraternal Order of Police at the David L Lawrence Convention Center, where she praised the officers as “peacemakers” and told them she has their back.
“I want you to know that the Department of Justice is committed to doing all that we can to ensure that you have the tools and resources you need to perform these difficult jobs as effectively—and as safely—as possible,” she said, adding that she is also committed to rebuilding broken police-community relationships.
“Bridging the rifts that divide us will take all of our best efforts and cannot rest on the shoulders of law enforcement alone. This is a shared responsibility and includes those of us who prosecute crimes as well as those community leaders and members who represent the communities we all care for deeply,” she said.
“And I am committed to doing my part. Bolstering trust where relationships have frayed is one of my top priorities as Attorney General and I intend to use the full resources of the Department of Justice to support the progress that all Americans need and deserve.”
Following her speech, Lynch met with Black students at Pittsburgh’s Creative and Performing Arts Academy and said she was impressed with some of their ideas connecting students with police in an effort to bolster those relationships.
One of them, Brashear High School senior Savannah Mynahan said she and some of her classmates, who won the regional Jefferson Award for service learning, created a project that brings police into the school from Zone 6 to establish a positive relationship with students.
“Basically there was no relationship, so we’re trying to change that,” she said.
Lynch followed then went to lay a wreath at the Zone 5 memorial, and finished with a community policing roundtable forum at the Hill House Association that included Hickton, McLay, Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason of the Office of Justice Programs and Director Ron Davis of the Community Oriented Policing Services.
Pittsburgh is the third of six cities participating in the national initiative pilot program Lynch has visited, the others being Birmingham, Ala.; Cincinnati, Ohio; and East Haven, Conn. She will visit Seattle, Wash., and Richmond, Calif., in coming weeks.
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