Matt Dugan, Democratic candidate for Allegheny County district attorney, stood in the center of Downtown’s Market Square on Friday morning to announce a plan to deal with what he called the “growing problems of Downtown Pittsburgh.”
Dugan described a Golden Triangle still struggling with changes brought on by the pandemic.
“It is undeniable that we’ve had an increase in our homeless population, an increase in the number of high-need individuals on the streets and an increase in criminal activity,” he said. “These factors have led to a growing concern that Downtown Pittsburgh is no longer the city it once was.”
His strategy to deal with those issues includes creating a magisterial district judge office that deals specifically with the city’s Downtown, appointing a team of attorneys to prosecute cases originating Downtown, and the establishment of a community liaison to hear suggestions and answer complaints from Downtown residents and business owners.
If elected, Dugan said, his office would be ready on “day one” to begin leading these efforts.
Dugan said he’d work with court administration and the next president judge to create the magisterial district judge office.
“As it stands now, any criminal defendant charged in a crime Downtown goes to Pittsburgh Municipal Court, where they can be arraigned by any magistrate from across the county, folks who are not accountable at all to the residents of Downtown or the business owners Downtown,” he said.
“A single district judge responsible for Downtown can, over time, become more familiar with the Downtown population and better differentiate between low-level offenders and dangerous individuals, and can make more informed decisions that will better serve the public safety interests of the Downtown community,” he said.
Dugan said the Downtown population includes what he called “high-need” individuals whose substance abuse issues or mental health problems can land them in court. A single district judge will be better equipped to identify those who are nonviolent and “swiftly intervene and connect those folks to services.”
The team of attorneys Dugan said he’d assign to prosecute cases originating Downtown would work in cooperation with Pittsburgh police and be available to assist in investigations and making charging decisions. This team, he said, would be available 24 hours a day.
Dugan called Pittsburgh’s Downtown a district that is “unique to this region” but that the expectations and standards of conduct should be the same as in any other borough or township in Allegheny County.
“I live in Moon Township,” he said. “We don’t permit open-air drug transactions in Moon, just as we don’t permit them in Fox Chapel or Wilkinsburg. We don’t permit open use of needle-injected narcotics. If those criminal acts are not acceptable in other parts of our county, we must not accept them as fact here in the city of Pittsburgh.”
The dedicated team of attorneys will work with city police to target such open-air drug dealing and use, as well as “threatening, assaultive behaviors and all violent crimes,” he said.
The creation of a Downtown community engagement liaison is a part of what Dugan calls a countywide public engagement strategy. Residents, visitors and business owners will have direct access to this liaison to voice concerns and ask questions. Quarterly meetings will provide residents and business owners with a forum to discuss public safety strategies and offer suggestions and feedback.
Dugan’s opponent, longtime Allegheny County District Attorney District Attorney Stephen Zappala, issued a statement criticizing Dugan’s plan, saying much of it falls outside the purview of the DA’s office.
“The District Attorney’s office is a law enforcement office not a social service agency,” the statement reads. “Matt Dugan seems to be running to be the chief human services official, not the chief law enforcement officer.”
Zappala, who has served six terms as district attorney, lost the Democratic primary to Dugan and is now on the ballot as a Republican — he received enough write-in votes to secure that party’s nomination.
A TV ad launched by his campaign this week hits at Dugan on the crime issue. It shows a series of dark and disturbing images of street crimes in other cities and suggests this is the future of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County if Dugan is elected.
Zappala said in his statement that Dugan “clearly doesn’t understand the job of District Attorney, which makes sense given Dugan has spent his entire career fighting to keep the people I prosecute out on the street. The District Attorney doesn’t get to dictate to the courts judicial assignments. The president judge is in charge of those assignments.”
He blamed Pittsburgh’s crime problem on city leadership. Dugan, a former chief public defender, claimed Zappala hasn’t been doing his job.
“Public safety in Downtown Pittsburgh starts and ends with the district attorney’s office,” he said. “For too long we’ve had a district attorney unwilling to accept that responsibility …. A change in leadership is desperately needed.”
“It is vitally important that we as leaders provide a safe and clean Downtown area so our existing businesses can thrive, our efforts to attract new businesses can be successful, and people who live, work and visit Downtown feel safe and protected.”
Steve is a photojournalist and writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he is currently on strike and working as a Union Progress co-editor. Reach him at smellon@unionprogress.com.