Pa. City Wants More Communication in Public Safety Planning

The next time Pittsburgh police face off with protesters at a Donald Trump rally, things will be different, but authorities aren't saying how.

Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich in a statement Tuesday said communication among the city's fire, police and EMS bureaus "is a major priority" and that the city is working "to develop a culture of planning" to contend with large-scale events and disasters.

He said the bureaus examined "how to improve public safety services," but he didn't specify what services required improvement or how the officials went about their review. The city denied a Right to Know request seeking documents about previous post-event reviews, and Hissrich declined to comment further.

Pittsburgh police Chief Cameron McLay in the days after Trump's visit April 13 acknowledged that police should have been better prepared to deal with rowdy protesters and that more officers equipped with riot gear should have been on stand-by.

Officers complained they were not permitted to wear riot gear at the rally. Several officers reported being pepper sprayed.

"As the result of internal reviews after the April 13 Donald Trump rally in Downtown, the Public Safety Department is announcing its Office of Emergency Management will be refocused to conduct comprehensive planning for all large-scale public events and disasters to include collaborative preparation efforts among the Bureaus of Fire, Police, and EMS," Hissrich's statement said.

Pittsburgh City Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, chair of council's Public Safety Committee, said he supports the approach.

"I believe this will give all our divisions within public safety even more ability to perform, as well as it being truly coordinated," he said.

Hissrich's statement said planning would be based on federal models from the National Incident Management System and the National Response Framework. He said police have received crowd management training that was previously scheduled.

"Naturally, there are going to be changes when a new public safety director comes in, especially on these kinds of issues," said Tim McNulty, spokesman for Mayor Bill Peduto. "Director Hissrich has a long history of working on special events and big events as an FBI official and is very interested in inter-agency cooperation."

Four police officers were injured and three protesters were arrested at the Trump rally.

Protesters followed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee during his visit to Pittsburgh, first at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in Oakland and later at a rally in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. About 8,700 people attended the rally in the convention center. More than 1,000 protesters milled the streets outside.

As Trump supporters waited in line to be admitted to the Downtown event, dozens of police officers stood between them and anti-Trump protesters along 10th Street.

Kennon Hooper, 31, of West Oakland; Lisa Cuyler, 27, of Polish Hill; and Maxwell Yearick, 29, of Perry South each were charged with riot and aggravated assault, authorities said. Hooper and Yearick also were charged with resisting arrest. Preliminary hearings for each are scheduled for Wednesday.

Megan Guza is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 412-380-8519 or mguza@tribweb.com.