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Team 4: Worker's Comp, Local Training Are Issues For Out-Of-Town G-20 Police

Pittsburgh Getting Help From Thousands Of Police Officers

POSTED: 4:46 pm EDT September 16, 2009
UPDATED: 6:24 pm EDT September 16, 2009

As many as 3,000 out-of-town police officers will be working in Pittsburgh during the G-20 summit from Sept. 24-25 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

Will the visiting officers get the same training as our hometown cops -- and who will pay if they get hurt or if an arrested protester is injured and sues?

The following is a transcript of a investigative report by Team 4's Jim Parsons that first aired Sept. 16, 2009, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl tells me that the city has just purchased an insurance policy for the G-20 summit that should cover us for any liability from lawsuits. But that $2 million policy won't take care of officers who are injured on the job, and concerns about that have some cities changing their minds about sending officers here to help with the G-20.

Who will police the G-20 summit? The Secret Service and the city of Pittsburgh still haven't released the names of cities that will send police officers here to help.

Team 4 has learned that Baltimore will send part of its SWAT team, but sources tell us Virginia Beach and Milwaukee have changed their minds and will not allow their officers to come to Pittsburgh. The reason? Worker's compensation liability. Each officer's home department is responsible for it.

City Councilman Bill Peduto: "It is a reason that some cities won't come to Pittsburgh -- that they want Pittsburgh to be in charge of that, once their officers are sworn in to defend the rights of Pittsburgh."

Ambridge Police Chief Mark Romutis: "I wish I could have gone myself to help him out."

Mark Romutis is a personal friend of Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper, but that wasn't enough to convince him to send Ambridge officers to the G-20 summit.

Romutis: "If I were to send one or two officers down there, and they were to be injured, then we could have a real crisis out here in Ambridge, and my first responsibility has to be to the borough of Ambridge."

The cities that are sending police officers have been told by Pittsburgh not to include cops who have been sued in the past three years for using excessive force. In fact, it's spelled out in this contract they have to sign.

But Team 4 did some digging and found 24 Pittsburgh police officers who have been sued recently for using excessive force. Will they be allowed to work the G-20?

Parsons: "Have you done that kind of background check on your own officers?"

Ravenstahl: "We have. We're looking into everything and making sure the officers out there are qualified to be out there."

Mayor Ravenstahl also says out-of-town officers will be expected to follow the policies of Pittsburgh police, including the use of force policy. But they're only getting one day at the city training academy to come up to speed.

Parsons: "Is there going to be enough time to train them in all of that?"

Ravenstahl: "We believe that there will be. Number one, we are -- to the extent we can -- reaching out to larger police forces that have experience with large events in their cities."

Parsons: "But they all have different use-of-force policies. How are they going to learn yours so quickly?"

Ravenstahl: "We'll have an opportunity to train them and communicate with them before they are sworn in officially as city of Pittsburgh police officers."

But Ambridge Chief Romutis, who spent 20 years with Pittsburgh police, is skeptical.

Romutis: "I can only think that Nate Harper goes home every day with heartburn -- serious heartburn -- and I feel for him. It's a difficult job to get people trained. It can be a long, laborious job. If the mayor is confident that it can get done down there within a day or two, then I hope he's right."

We asked the Pittsburgh Police Department for the names of the cities sending officers here, but Assistant Chief Paul Donaldson would not reveal the list.

Councilman Peduto tells us the visiting officers assigned to crowd control all have experience and training working with the Secret Service.

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