City leaders tout progress in public safety in Downtown Pittsburgh over the last year
In hopes of making Downtown Pittsburgh a safer and more welcoming place, the Downtown Public Safety Center opened one year ago.
City leaders are applauding the progress since then, and some say more work needs to be done.
Mayor Ed Gainey said Downtown Pittsburgh is changing for the better.
"Together we built more than a building. We built a foundation of a safer, more vibrant downtown," Gainey said.
To try to control crime and strengthen Downtown Pittsburgh's image, the city opened the Downtown Public Safety Center on Wood Street in the heart of the business district a year ago.
"This building is more than just a physical space. It's a testament to our commitment to making Pittsburgh's downtown safer, a more welcoming place for everyone," Gainey said.
Pittsburgh police, city leaders, and stakeholders gathered to celebrate the work that's been done through the safety center.
"A reduction in violence, a reduction in homicides, a reduction in nonfatal shootings, law enforcement, public safety teams downtown, REACH downtown, AIM downtown, OCHS downtown. We say we would put every resource we have available into the community downtown to ensure that it would be better and we've accomplished that," the mayor said.
"The major metrics we look at such as violent crime are well below what they were even 2, 3 years ago," said Dr. Heath Johnson from the crime analysis unit at the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police.
"The quality-of-life issues that they're addressing every day have decreased," Johnson added.
This celebration event on Thursday came just a day after police said a teenager was shot by a stranger in the middle of the day on Smithfield Street.
Ragland said downtown officers were able to run towards the gunshot, give life-saving measures, and get the suspect into custody.
"Downtown is safe. We put together this downtown public safety center with PNC, we have built partnerships with businesses, and people who live here, and play here. In some of those incidents, it's very difficult for you to prevent that, what we did was we were able to save a man's life and take a man into custody within seconds. And that's all because of the presence that we have down here," said Acting Chief Christopher Ragland of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police.
Mayor Gainey thanked all the officers for their rapid response to Wednesday's shooting.
"While this was an unfortunate incident, it also showed you what happens when we all work together, how quickly they made sure that public safety was the top priority," Gainey said.
Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt said they have more resources downtown than ever before.
To help people experiencing a mental health or behavioral crisis, the Downtown Public Safety Center has a co-response team with social workers. DPSC also has law enforcement-assisted diversion case managers.
"We still have a lot of work to do, and we're not going to stop until everyone who lives, works, or plays in downtown and across the city is safe and feels safe," Schmidt said.
According to Pittsburgh Police, in 2024, the downtown officers made 827 arrests, issued 838 non-traffic citations, responded to 705 incidents, and responded to 452 overdoses.
