Pittsburgh's police chief puts down his badge for a referee's whistle

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh's police chief retired Friday, just a week after announcing he would add refereeing college basketball games to his calendar — a move that raised concerns among some city leaders.

Chief Larry Scirotto, who had worked as a referee before becoming police chief last year, had maintained that officiating roughly 60 games this season would not interfere with his duties and offered to take a pay cut. But some city council members said they wanted more information before approving his salary for next year.

In his resignation letter, Scirotto said he did not want the issue to become a distraction for the department.

He was set to earn $187,000 next year as police chief. Veteran Division I basketball referees can earn more than $150,000 in a season while officiating dozens of games across multiple conferences. Less experienced referees earn far less.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey chose Scirotto to be the city's next police chief in May 2023. The mayor had said that Scirotto would not continue working as a referee.

“We had a conversation about this, and at this time, he will not being doing that,” Gainey said after appointing Scirotto.

Both the mayor and the chief have said recently that the plan was to revisit the refereeing job once Scirotto settled into the job and crime rates had dropped.