M.O.R.E’s Justice Reform Committee (JRC) has been hard at work pressuring the Mt. Lebanon Commission for police transparency since the Summer of 2020. We asked for the Mt. Lebanon Police Department’s (MLPD) Use of Force policy in September 2020 and was told it would be published in December 2020 and then they told us in December was pushed back to the Spring 2021.
In response to the Commission’s obvious delay tactic, 10 members of the community made public comments at the Commissioner’s Meeting on February 23, 2021, supporting police transparency and a public Use of Force policy. Because of this, the Commission made an official statement saying it will be made available to the public.
In addition to the Use of Force policy, the JRC issued an open letter to the Commission and Police Chief on April 20, 2021, requesting the MLPD’s social media policy, pushing their campaign for police transparency. Commissioner Leeann Foster provided a promising response on behalf of the commission:
All of the police department policies are currently under review and we are still on pace for a late August / early September time frame to have them finished. After they are finished all MLPD policies will be publicly accessible on our website.
—Commissioner Leeann Foster (May 4, 2021)
In the JRC’s open letter, the City of Pittsburgh Police: Manual of Procedural Orders was referenced as an example of what was possible with technology but also because it’s the City of Pittsburgh. On the first page of this online manual, they succinctly explain why their policies are publicly available online, “Our proud participation in the National Initiative for Building Community Trust & Justice has solidified our long-held belief that our legitimacy as law enforcement is contingent upon many factors, including transparency. The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police believes strongly in being transparent. Transparency fosters trust. To achieve transparency, we believe that it is important that we provide the public with the opportunity to review our policies with regards to how your Police Officers may interact with the community.”
We hope the Mt. Lebanon Police Department also values fostering trust with their community. With this newest promise from the Mt. Lebanon Commission, we anticipate something intricate to be published by September 2021.
