Cameron McLay, a leadership development consultant for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, is Pittsburgh's new chief of police, pending city council approval.
Mayor Bill Peduto and Public Safety Director Stephen Bucar announced the hiring of the 56-year-old former Madison, Wisc., police captain at a news conference this afternoon, saying he distinguished himself during the interview process as the best choice to bridge a divide between communities and the bureau and restore morale to a department that saw its last chief go to federal prison.
Mr. Peduto said Mr. McLay "will have his work to do."
"He must make the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police a national model of professionalism," the mayor said. "I believe he is up to the task to lead us in a new era."
Mr. McLay has 35 years of police experience and he retired from Madison earlier this year after serving as a captain there since 2005.
The new chief has “all the attributes identified by the community and the rank-and-file throughout the city necessary for the next Pittsburgh police chief,” Mr. Bucar said. "He's a man of discipline, he's an experienced martial artist and he is a police leadership instructor."
Mr. Bucar, a former Pennsylvania state trooper and FBI special agent, added that Mr. McLay was "very compelling" during interviews.
"When you have a face-to-face interview with people, you get a sense of whether or not they know what they're talking about," he said, adding that Mr. McLay's efforts to institute a community-policing model that he created for Madison also helped set him apart.
A selection committee composed of law enforcement experts, community leaders and others rated Mr. McLay among the highest of 10 candidates who interviewed for the job, the mayor added. The chief's salary is $109,160, and Mr. McLay is expected to begin work Sept. 15.
Mr. McLay has family connections to Pittsburgh and spent some time in the area as a youth. His mother and grandparents were from Squirrel Hill and Wilkinsburg, and as a youth he lived in Mt. Lebanon for three years while his father worked for Alcoa.
In the news release, Mr. McLay, who is married and has three adult children, said he has "long wanted to return" to Pittsburgh. The mayor's office said he was not available for interviews today.
“I am drawn by the opportunity to make a difference. I recognize a community that desperately wants a stronger connection with its police and a proud police force, rich in tradition, that wants to be valued and respected for their service and sacrifices," he said in the news release. "It is my job to close that gap. We, the police, are nothing but an extension of the communities we serve. Our role is to reduce crime, fear and disorder in all of those communities. To do so, we must forge strong bonds with those we serve. It is my responsibility to make that happen, and it will.”
The Pittsburgh police bureau has been led by an acting police chief, Regina McDonald, since February 2013, when former police Chief Nate Harper was asked to resign amid a federal investigation.
Harper is currently serving a federal prison sentence on charges that he failed to file income tax returns and conspired with others to divert checks from the bureau into off-the-books accounts, which he tapped for his personal use. The department has also drawn fire for what critics contend is a lax disciplinary environment where some officers aren't held accountable for their conduct.
Mr. Peduto said last week that a search committee had provided him with 10 finalists for police chief, four of whom currently worked with the bureau and six of whom were from out-of-state.
"It wasn't out-of-town vs. in-town," Mr. Bucar said. "It was the breadth of experience that person brought with them."
Mr. McLay started as a a part-time cadet officer and full-time police officer for the Indiana University Police Department in 1979. He was also president of the IU Taekwondo Club and a police self-defense instructor. In Madison, he worked as a patrol officer for five years before becoming a training officer, then rising to sergeant and lieutenant before he was promoted to captain. His experience includes work on narcotics and gang units as well as the SWAT team.
Mr. McLay's resume says he is "deeply committed to the goal of transforming the policing profession, and will devote the remainder of my professional life to that important objective."
"If we are to make policing a true profession, we must inspire those in our organizations through commitment to our highest ethical values, and must ensure everyone is held accountable to the highest ethical standards of conduct," he states.
Copyright 2014 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
