PublicSource (https://www.publicsource.org/category/publicsource-investigation/)
Two city agencies are investigating allegations of wrongdoing between Pittsburgh police and city employees with a software vendor the city has paid at least $4.3 million.
Since 2012, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police recovered more than 3,600 guns from suspects, and roughly 2,600 of those firearms are believed to have been carried illegally, according to a PublicSource analysis of police data. That’s the most detailed account to date on the scope of Pittsburgh’s illegal gun market. But it’s incomplete.
Pittsburgh’s mayor and its controller are calling for policy changes in response to a PublicSource investigation showing that a no-bid, $1.5 million police body camera contract with Axon Enterprise was ushered to city officials by a police commander with financial ties to the company.
More than 4,700 pages of printed emails between Trapp and Axon representatives — provided to PublicSource through a records request with the City of Pittsburgh — show that Trapp became increasingly close with Axon over the years, and eventually helped to close Pittsburgh’s $1.5 million body camera contract for the company.
The close relationship between Commander Clarence “Ed” Trappand Axon raises questions about whether Trapp was acting in the best interest of taxpayers as he helped to negotiate with the company for the purchase of body cameras for Pittsburgh's police.
Check annual federal and state crime numbers, and you’ll find more than 80 cases Allegheny County homicides missing from 2010 through 2015. It’s difficult to explain such a large deviation.
A renewed fight is brimming in Harrisburg as pro-gun lawmakers push legislation to block and punish action by cities like Pittsburgh. That support could override a governor’s veto, which Gov. Tom Wolf has promised to do.
The murder of 19-year-old John Cassidy Davern had been considered unsolved for three months. But yesterday 18-year-old Floyd Beard of Homewood, who the family described as a friend of Cassidy, turned himself in to Pittsburgh police.
Update: On Jan. 23, 2017 Floyd Beard of Homewood turned himself into the Zone 5 police station for his alleged role in the murder of John Cassidy Davern. Police issued a warrant on Saturday, Jan. 21. Beard has been charged with criminal homicide, robbery and carrying a firearm without a license.
