Pittsburgh homicides plunged in 2023, mirroring drops in Allegheny County, nation

“Big areas that last year got mainstream media coverage, New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia … those areas did see dwindling (homicide) numbers,” said Jillian E. Snider, a retired New York City police officer who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. “We’re still higher than we were pre-pandemic, but we’re going down…”

The homicide clearance rate nationwide in 2022 was about 50%, according to the FBI.

The clearance rate makes more sense when considering Pittsburgh police’s increased focus on community partnerships, [Snider] said. She visited Allegheny County in July 2022 with a Washington, D.C., think tank where she works and met with local police, prosecutors and corrections officers.

“Agencies putting more efforts into relationships with the community are going to see positive things, like improvements in the clearance rates,” Snider said.

Pittsburgh-area law enforcement “had a more optimistic attitude — ‘We are working in partnership with our community,’” she said. “It makes (residents) feel like they’re playing a role in this whole thing. People are more likely to cooperate when they feel they’re contributing to something.”