Zone 1 Cares: Northview Heights safety center relaunches with new initiative

PITTSBURGH — Following the shooting that killed three people on Cedar Avenue in the North Side last weekend, Zone 1 reopened the Calvin M. Hall Public Safety Center in Northview Heights, and launched a new initiative connecting police officers with the communities they serve, called Zone 1 Cares.

“This is really about the community being the police, and the police being the community, and together we can have peace,” said Zone 1 Commander Shawn Malloy.

Connecting the police with the community was the goal of the Calvin M. Hall Public Safety Center when it shut down during the pandemic, and Zone 1, along with community leaders, made it a priority to get it reopened.

Beginning on Friday, six officers will man the center through Zone 1 Cares, a model Zone 1 hopes to repeat in all its 18 neighborhoods.

“For the rest of the neighborhoods, we are going to get that started in 2023 spring,” said Malloy during a Friday afternoon news conference.

Essentially, the program is twofold, first connecting community members with critical resources through a one-stop-shop website.

“I wanted to have a place for all the social services so when people do get the QR code, they know where to go,” said Malloy.

Second, the program assigns officers to a Northside neighborhood to patrol, something Malloy said was successful in Northview Heights.

“Roughly, there were 400 calls for service up here in 2017. I would say now, 188, it shows you it works,” said Malloy.

Malloy said this effort is a direct response to the recent uptick in violence across the Northside — with the increase in homelessness, the recent shooting that killed three on Cedar Avenue and the Airbnb teen shooting.

He said community policing is a model that works in decreasing crime, but it takes time.

“I don’t think this is something that is going to happen overnight,” said Malloy.

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