RIMEL WILLIAMSON AND NAZIR PARKER, TWO 17-YEAR-OLDS, WERE KILLED IN BRADDOCK ON AUG. 27, 2023. THEY WERE WOODLAND HILLS HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS.
Pittsburgh Police now has special ‘Street Crimes Unit’
The number of homicides in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County decreased in 2023 from 2022, but to assume that progress is being made in the fight against gun violence in Pittsburgh’s Black communities would be inaccurate.
There were 107 homicides in Allegheny County in 2023, 22 less than 2022’s number. As far as Pittsburgh homicides, there were at least 49 homicides in 2023, as opposed to 71 in 2022 (Pittsburgh safety officials, as of press time, have not confirmed whether the 2023 homicide total was 49 or 50 homicides).
Homicides in 2023 could be found in all corners of the city, from Homewood, to East Hills, to the Hill District, the North Side, Arlington, Beechview, to Elliott. Outside of city limits, homicides stretched from McKeesport, to Clairton, Swissvale, Pitcairn, Tarentum, and Wilkinsburg.
Of the 107 homicides in 2023, 78 were Black lives, or nearly 73 percent. And of the 107 homicides, 13 were African Americans under 18.
ERICA VAIL PASSED AWAY IN 2023, IN BRADDOCK.
As of Tuesday, Jan. 2, public officials such as Mayor Ed Gainey, Chief of Police Larry Scirotto and Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt have yet to publicly comment on the number of homicides in 2023, or its decline in the number of homicides.
On Jan. 1, 2024, the City of Pittsburgh’s police force unveiled a special “Street Crimes Unit” to try to apprehend violent offenders in some of the high-crime areas. The New Pittsburgh Courier has learned the unit is comprised of 18 officers and two supervisors. Pittsburgh Police Chief Larry Scirotto has said the unit will be more of the “enforcement arm” of the approach to tackling gun violence. He has said in prior media interviews with the Courier that those involved in criminal activity or organizations can choose to leave that life, get assistance and help for their traumas or legal employment aspirations…or, if they choose to continue in the “street life,” then that’s what initiatives like the new “Street Crimes Unit” are made for.
PITTSBURGH POLICE CHIEF LARRY SCIROTTO SAID THE NEW UNIT IS COMPRISED OF SOME OF “THE BEST” OFFICERS.
“We’re focusing on people that don’t follow the rules, that create harm in our community,” Scirotto said in November 2023 at a City Council meeting.
Scirotto said the officers on the new unit are among the police force’s best, who have been well-trained and thoroughly vetted. Scirotto said it’s unfortunate that there are enough repeat violent offenders within city limits to have the “Street Crimes Unit” as a thing.
Time will tell if the “Street Crimes Unit” will take more violent offenders off the streets, or cause more chaos, similar to the “SCORPION” unit that was used by the Memphis Police Department. The SCORPION unit infamously was responsible for the arrest of Tyre Nichols, a Black man who later died as a result of the physical abuse he took by some of the unit’s officers while in custody in January 2023.
However, Scirotto vowed to members of City Council that the “Street Crimes Unit” would not resemble the now-disbanded SCORPION unit in Memphis.
Scirotto stressed: “This is not a jump-out unit.”
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