Pittsburgh Police Chief Cameron McLay had the national spotlight last night at the Democratic National Convention, where he spoke about national tensions between police and black communities.

“The controversial officer-involved shootings that have occurred since Ferguson have created a level of tension between police and our communities, while at the same time, there’s been a  great deal of work going on to improve those relationships,” McLay said during a prime-time convention slot.

Among other key points, McLay spoke of the disparate impact the justice system has on minority communities nationwide. He also underlined the the fragile nature of relationships between police and residents, particularly in the wake of of police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana, followed by the murder of eight police officers in 10 days.

Read a full transcript from the DNC here.

On July 31, PublicSource is hosting an event about Pittsburgh communities healing in the wake of neighborhood violence. Visit our Facebook event page for more details.

Note: McLay does not follow the text exactly but hits on the same points.

YouTube video

Reach Jeffrey Benzing at jbenzing@publicsource.org. Follow him on Twitter @jabenzing.

We don't have paywalls — but your support helps us bridge crucial information gaps.

Readers tell us they can't find the information they get from our reporting anywhere else, and we're glad to provide this important service for our community. We work hard to produce accurate, timely, impactful journalism without paywalls that keeps our region informed and moving forward.

However, only about .1% of the people who read our stories contribute to our work financially. Our newsroom depends on the generosity of readers like yourself to make our high-quality local journalism possible, and the costs of the resources it takes to produce it have been rising, so each member means a lot to us.

Your donation to our nonprofit newsroom helps ensure everyone in Allegheny County can stay up-to-date about decisions and events that affect them. Please make your gift of support now.

GIVE NOW

Jeff has been serving as assistant editor for PublicSource since October 2018, helping to guide coverage across the newsroom and overseeing economic development coverage for Develop PGH. Jeff previously...