{"id":1130,"date":"2013-12-16T12:01:17","date_gmt":"2013-12-16T12:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1130"},"modified":"2014-12-23T17:06:48","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T17:06:48","slug":"czar-of-pittsburgh-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/12\/16\/czar-of-pittsburgh-police\/","title":{"rendered":"Czar of Pittsburgh Police"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Pittsburgh police bureau has been dealing with a lot of negative publicity this year. The morale at the bureau is low and its relations with the community leave a lot to be desired. Former Police Chief Nate Harper was indicted by a grand jury in March on charges of conspiracy and tax evasion, a few police officers were disciplined for misconduct and one of them, most recently, was charged with DUI after arriving to work intoxicated.<\/p>\n

But things used to be worse. Much worse.<\/p>\n

In the 1930s, the city\u2019s police bureau under Peter P. Walsh was continually under fire for its \u201cshameless toleration of vice and racketeering.\u201d Peter P. Walsh served as a superintendent of Pittsburgh police and was associated with the police force for 30 years. He became police superintendent under Mayor Charles H. Kline, one of the most corrupt mayors in Pittsburgh\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

A native Pittsburgher with some experience working for steel mills, Walsh rapidly advanced in rank once he joined the police force in 1898. In 1903, he was promoted to lieutenant and then to captain, he became an inspector in 1907 and commissioner in 1914. In 1920, he left the police department to serve as superintendent of police for the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation. But six years later, he was back in the police headquarters, this time as superintendent.<\/p>\n

According to The Pittsburgh Press, Walsh was \u201can important cog in the wrecked political machine of Mayor Charles H. Klein.\u201d They called him \u201cCzar of Pittsburgh Police.\u201d He held the superintendent\u2019s office for eight years.<\/p>\n

Walsh began policing in the days when \u2018the policeman on the beat\u2019 often upheld the dignity of the law and maintained order by physical force, but Walsh was noted for the fact that he never beat nor cursed a man while arresting him, according to the Post-Gazette. That was his claim to fame\u2026 before he became superintendent. As the head of the Pittsburgh police department, he was known to be less humane, he issued a \u201cshoot to kill\u201d order after the deadly North Side gas tank explosion in 1927 to keep the devastated site free from onlookers and looters. He modified his instructions at city officials\u2019 urging. \u201cGive them a good body beating and then call the patrol wagon and send them to a hospital,\u201d was his new order.<\/p>\n

When Walsh was in charge of the police force, Pittsburgh racketeers, bootleggers and other representatives of organized crime prospered. Police prospered, too, by turning a blind eye on illegal activity or being an accomplice. Those were the years of Prohibition, the Volstead Act enacted in 1919 was in force. In 1928, the party seemed to be almost over for Walsh and a number of his lieutenants.<\/a> They were indicted by a grand jury and charged with conspiracy to violate the Volstead Act. But the shake-up, predicted in the newspapers at that time, never\u00a0 happened. Walsh and his lieutenants were never convicted. They got off scot-free.<\/p>\n

Walsh was dismissed in 1934 after his boss, the last Republican elected to be the mayor of Pittsburgh, Charles Kline was convicted for malfeasance.<\/p>\n

Walsh and his wife, Mary Walsh, had seven sons and two daughters. Walsh died at age 69 in his home in Squirrel Hill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nate Harper? No. Things used to be worse. Much worse.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesCzar of Pittsburgh Police<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1066],"tags":[959,980,1036,1158],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/tumblr_mxtc1fPIB21rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C992&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8814,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2018\/06\/12\/picturing-the-drug-raids-of-the-just-say-no-era\/","url_meta":{"origin":1130,"position":0},"title":"Picturing the drug raids of the ‘Just Say No’ era","date":"June 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"If there\u2019s one thing all middle-schoolers learn in health class, it\u2019s that you don\u2019t have to do drugs to be cool. Richard Nixon declared that drugs were \u201cpublic enemy number one\u201d in 1971, but anti-drug education really hit its stride during the \u201980s and early \u201990s, thanks to programs like\u2026","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"Two pistols, 2.2 pounds of cocaine, and a whole lot of cash seized by county police in 1986. (Harry Coughanour\/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/img008.jpg?fit=1080%2C1045&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8917,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2018\/06\/21\/jonny-gammage-couldnt-breathe\/","url_meta":{"origin":1130,"position":1},"title":"Jonny Gammage couldn’t breathe","date":"June 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"On Tuesday, an East Pittsburgh police officer killed an unarmed black teenager. The policeman, who has recently been identified as Officer Michael Rosfeld, shot 17-year-old Antwon Rose after he \u201cbolted\u201d from a car during a traffic stop, Allegheny County police Superintendent Coleman McDonough said Wednesday. A witness captured the incident\u2026","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/img008-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C844&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2435,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/09\/sept-7-1937-here-a-coupe-owned-by-patrick\/","url_meta":{"origin":1130,"position":2},"title":"Fishing a car from the Mon","date":"October 9, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"It was a bad day for McDonough.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tumblr_mbl5agjJUt1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C760&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2040,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/02\/18\/shame-at-east-libertys-infamous-bachelors-club\/","url_meta":{"origin":1130,"position":3},"title":"Shame at East Liberty\u2019s infamous Bachelors\u2019 Club","date":"February 18, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"There was a time when Pittsburghers flocked to private clubs.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/tumblr_mia8g4skm51rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C844&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":722,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/04\/28\/pittsburghs-great-voting-scandal\/","url_meta":{"origin":1130,"position":4},"title":"Pittsburgh\u2019s great voting scandal","date":"April 28, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Padding of voter lists in the early 1930s was so widespread as to be laughable.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/tumblr_n4llqx6h3K1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1080%2C844&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2521,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/09\/14\/oct-10-1956-president-eisenhower-riding-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":1130,"position":5},"title":"President Eisenhower, riding up Fifth, greets Pittsburghers","date":"September 14, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"\u201c150,000 Cheer Ike in Roaring Welcome,\u201d read the Pittsburgh Press headline.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/tumblr_ma9g8epjaU1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1152%2C918&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1130"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4091,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130\/revisions\/4091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}