PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Pittsburgh Police Chief Larry Scirotto is returning to refereeing college basketball games.
In accepting the job as chief last May, Scirotto told Mayor Ed Gainey he would no longer pursue his other passion: refereeing NCAA basketball games.
But passions die hard, and Scirotto refereed a game between Michigan State and Northern Michigan on Oct. 13. It’s not clear if he had the mayor’s permission to be there. But on Thursday in a statement, Scirotto confirmed the mayor is releasing him from his promise, allowing him to ref once again.
He’s in Boston this week at a chief’s conference and is expected to address the media on Oct. 22. But he did issue a statement that said, in part:
“I’m excited to share that in a few days I will wake up to a dream come true — I’ll be putting on a striped jersey and getting back on a basketball court as a referee for college basketball. As a lifelong sports fan who lives and breathes teamwork, I’ve worked out a way of accommodating the schedule to ensure I can continue to fight for you as your Chief. “
But the president of the Fraternal Order of Police is crying foul. In his statement, Scirotto says he will be elevating Assistant Chief Christopher Ragland to the position of deputy chief so Ragland can take over the chief’s duties while he is out of town refereeing to “execute on decisions or respond to emergencies for those few hours when I’m on the court.”
Union President Bob Swartzwelder said refereeing will distract the chief from his duties and this new position will cost the taxpayer, noting that the mayor’s new budget aims to reduce the budgeted number of police to 800 officers.
“We’re extremely upset,” Swartzwelder said. “You cut our budget down to 800, and now you’re going to create a deputy chief position you previously eliminated. And at a time when we need on-site leadership, you’re going to allow the chief to referee which promised he wouldn’t do.”
The mayor’s office says Chief Scirotto will be refereeing on his own time, but the FOP says it will cost the city more money and the chief’s attention will be divided.
In a statement late Thursday, Gainey said Scirotto “approached us about possibly needing to step down from his role in order to pursue this part-time refereeing gig, I said there must be a better way. He’s too good, and we are making too much progress, not to keep up the fight.”
