Pittsburgh Police Chief Resigns (McDonald, Donaldson: 2013, crime, credit)

[Hopes]

There have been a few threads about this investigation. I'm surprised few people here are interested in this topic.

PITTSBURGH: Pittsburgh police chief steps down amid FBI probe - Nation Wires - MiamiHerald.com

Do you think this is all the result of a power war between the mayor's office and the police department?

I've seen that happen so many times in politics. Just wondering what's really happening here.

[squarian]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I'm surprised few people here are interested in this topic.

Pittsburghers, in general, are remarkably sanguine in the face of official corruption. Not entirely sure why.

Do you think this is all the result of a power war between the mayor's office and the police department?

Hardly - Ravenstahl has stood by Harper for several weeks now, while details of the federal investigation oozed into the local press. If there had been any sort of conflict between the mayor's office and the police HQ, Ravenstahl would have acted long since.

Instead, Young Master Luke quite characteristically has done his duty, standing with Pittsburgh Old Corruption right up to the point where, it would appear, the FBI confronted him with irrefutable evidence of his police chief's indictable offenses.

This isn't an internal affair. This is the Feds intruding on the good old bad ways, which some in this city had supposed in the past, but which in fact had simply changed its zip code.

[HarryRSpooner]

Now if I were Jack McCoy from "Law & Order" might I construe this resignation as a tacit admission of guilt?

[Clint.]

Originally Posted by squarian

Pittsburghers, in general, are remarkably sanguine in the face of official corruption. Not entirely sure why.

I don't expect it to be any other way. It's unsurprising in the least; basically how I expect government to be...shrouded in secrecy from the local school board to the NSA.

[Goinback2011]

From the Post Gazette:

Mr. Ravenstahl said at a news conference Wednesday evening that he had asked Chief Nate Harper, 60, to resign after a meeting with the FBI and U.S. attorney's office a few hours before. He said the bureau called for the meeting and gave him information that made him decide to force the chief out, just a day after he'd stood by him publicly and cautioned against being "judge and jury" regarding allegations about the chief.

Nate Harper out as Pittsburgh police chief - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Whatever he did, the evidence must be pretty damning.

[aw_now_what]

Whatever he did, the evidence must be pretty damning.

I wouldn't necessarily take those events at face value. There may be some perception in the mayor's camp that firing Harper and the mayor's comments in the press conference would make the mayor look (1) decisive and (2) less culpable, at least for now and at least to some. The primary is in ~10 weeks. The mayor's present goal is to win the primary.

Keep in mind that the mayor's decisionmaking with regard to Harper's job was not constrained by civil service, contract or collective bargaining. With department heads, he needs no reason to terminate employment.

The statement that he decided to force Harper out as a result of his meeting with the FBI could still be technically factual. He chose his words very carefully and refused to answer most questions asked in the press conference.

When this is all unraveled I think we will know exactly what went down that was illegal and/or unethical and who pulled it off, but that may not be for many months.

[Clint.]

Will there be other 'resignations' beyond the chief's? Pretty strong accusations from a former bodyguard, who is either 1) Informed enough to make an accurate claim or 2) Dumb enough to slander (or whatever...seems like making such a specific and public claim about someone's criminal culpability while knowing the claim to be untrue is a crime of some sort).

Ex-bodyguard: Mayor knew of credit union debit cards - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[squarian]

Originally Posted by Clint.

Will there be other 'resignations' beyond the chief's?

Good question. I'm waiting to hear more about Deputy Chief Paul Donaldson, "who normally would take over" as Acting Chief instead of Regina McDonald, but who instead "is going on vacation".

I'm sure it's just coincidence, but didn't all of this start when Harper took leave in order, we were told, to deal with his mother's death?