City of Pittsburgh introduces board to investigate use of force incidents

PITTSBURGH — Friday afternoon, The City of Pittsburgh announced the creation of a new community advisory board to investigate use of force incidents.

The creation of the board comes just a week after a rough arrest in Downtown Pittsburgh was caught on camera.

>>> Pittsburgh Public Safety aware of ‘use of force’ by officers during arrest, incident under review

Police chief Larry Scirotto said the preliminary investigation into the arrest of Jashon Martin is complete.

He said the officers’ use of force was “objectively reasonable.”

>>> Mayor Ed Gainey’s team working on ‘next steps’ following controversial arrest in downtown Pittsburgh

The new advisory board will be called the Sentinel Review Task Force, and it will take a closer look at use of force incidents.

Mayor Ed Gainey said the committee will be made up of community leaders from different backgrounds.

“We know that we have more work to do. We’re always looking to learn how to get better. We think that’s important,” Gainey said.

The group will be looking at incidents as far back as the tasing death of Jim Rogers in October 2021.

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