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Council hears police quarterly report, considers $6,000 safety grant and hires new staff
Summary
Police Chief Red Peter presented quarterly statistics, discussed training and staffing; council voted to hire Jose Butron and staff noted a $6,000 offer from the governor's highway safety program to support police activities.
The Allegheny County Council received a police quarterly report and took personnel action at its July 16 meeting.
Police Chief Red Peter (Police chief / Red Peter, S3) reviewed April–June statistics and staffing. He said dispatch calls for service rose in 2024 compared with the same quarter in 2023 and highlighted business checks as an expanded activity (2,090 business checks recorded). "You see the dispatch cost for service in '24? We had 1,075 for that 3 months," the chief said, noting incidents otherwise were largely comparable to last year.
Council members asked about staffing and training. Chief Red Peter said the department is actively hiring (two positions increased since 2023, one vacancy remains) and described mandated training: "It's mandated we do a minimum of 24 training hours per officer each year" and this year the department averaged close to 30–32 hours.
Council member (S2) noted the governor's highway safety program had offered a grant to the police department, approximately $6,000, which the council would be asked to accept by resolution. The chief said the funds could help support checkpoints and enforcement activities.
On personnel, staff reported that Jose Butron had accepted a verbally agreed offer and the council moved and seconded a vote to hire him with an anticipated start date on Monday the 12th (as reported). The motion was put to the council and recorded as carried in open session.
Chief Red Peter and other officers also described community-facing programs: residence checks for vacationing residents and an outreach approach to keep businesses safe.
The council did not finalize program allocations for the highway safety grant at the meeting; staff will return with formal resolution language and recommended uses.
