Indianapolis inspires Pittsburgh police to solve leadership problem

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(The Center Square) – The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police believes it has a leadership problem.

And they hope a $20,000 taxpayer contribution to cover a new training program, first witnessed in action at the Indianapolis Police Academy in 2024, will help solve it.

For 39 officers who’ve experienced it – including some from Allegheny County Police Department and Duquesne University – Zone 3 Commander Jeffrey Abraham says they rate it “4.2 out 5 stars.”

“If that were for a restaurant, I’d eat there,” he told the Pittsburgh City Council on Wednesday while asking for support for the contract.

And with 200 supervisors in the bureau, he says there’s a long, but worthwhile, way to go.

“It’s going to take a while to rebuild that culture of what we are looking for in leadership here, so if we stop doing this now, that’s just going to put us back behind again,” Abraham said. “We need to keep building and keep putting people through.”

The Q6 Performance Leadership Model, he explained, teaches officers how to encourage “high-performing workers” and rehabilitate others who are “toxic.” The program does so by simulating up to 18 situations that impact the bureau in different ways, including: an officer diagnosed with cancer, another struggling with alcohol addiction, or a third who’s become the focus of media coverage.

“So, it’s a little more specific than some of the other leadership trainings that are out there that just simply teach leadership,” Abraham said. “This teaches to a real-world situation.”

The dynamic addresses the most prevalent reason officers leave — strained working relationships. In Pittsburgh, Abraham said officers complain of supervisors “passing the buck” up the chain of command rather than dealing with the situation themselves.

The conversation occurs against the backdrop of tension regarding the department’s interactions, or lack thereof, with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, as well as incidents of pepper spraying that sent some city residents to the hospital.

Commander Eric Baker, who leads Special Deployment and serves as a community liaison, said the bureau recently switched to a more targeted chemical formulation. Still, it’s a rarely deployed tactic, he said.

“We do not indiscriminately spray people,” he said.