A childhood dream culminated Friday amid fanfare, a few jokes and a City Council chamber packed with a who’s-who of Pittsburgh public safety.
Jason Lando, once a Pittsburgh boy who dreamed of becoming a city cop, raised his right hand before a standing-room-only Downtown audience as a judge swore him in as chief of Pennsylvania’s second-largest municipal police force.
The applause that followed Lando’s oath of office almost lasted longer than the roughly 90 seconds it took Superior Court Judge Jill Beck, Lando’s childhood friend, to administer it.
“I hope you understand how much it means to me to be surrounded by so many friends, family members and peers,” Lando said during a six-minute speech that leaned heavily on the 21-year bureau vet’s Pittsburgh homecoming.
Lando thanked the bureau’s approximately 750 officers, who he hailed as “compassionate, committed and courageous” — words pulled from the police force’s mission statement.
“This job is about people,” said Lando, 48, of South Side. “It’s about teamwork — and showing up for people when it matters.”
Lando grew up in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, near the police bureau’s Zone 4 station on Northumberland Street.
He said he started dreaming of becoming a cop in 1982 when he was around 5 years old.
He served on the city police force from 2000 to 2021. He walked his first beat in the Hill District and retired two decades later as commander of the bureau’s narcotics and vice unit.
Mayor Corey O’Connor nominated Lando as chief in November, after Lando had served five years as police chief in Frederick, Md.
On Friday afternoon, O’Connor celebrated Lando’s long-anticipated return, adding he “was just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time” to nominate him.
“I think I speak for Chief Lando when I say this has been a long time coming — but very well-deserved,” O’Connor told a crowd of more than 100 people. “We love Jason. He’s like family.”
A full 40 minutes before the ceremony started at 2 p.m., most seats in the chamber already were filled. City staffers rolled in two extra sets of wooden folding chairs to accommodate overflow. Many still stood in aisles, shoulder to shoulder with the person next to them.
“This is crazy,” Lando laughed, as he walked past a gaggle of reporters at 1:49 p.m.
“There’s more, like, 1,000 people coming in here right now,” a woman said into her cell phone around the same time.
Lando often was flanked by police brass in pressed, ceremonial black uniforms.
Pittsburgh police Commander Lance Hoyson, who now leads the zone where he first worked under Lando as a rookie, smiled as he talked with an eclectic mix of residents. Crafton police Chief Richard Ford, a former Pittsburgh officer who trained in the police academy with Lando, was among the officers with decades-long ties to the bureau’s new leader.
One seat was reserved from the get-go — a front-row spot for Zinna Scott, a Zone 5 public safety council leader and vocal advocate for Lando.
O’Connor called out a group from Frederick who had trekked four hours for the ceremony.
“Our budget is tight — they paid double for parking,” the mayor quipped.
Tamika Thrasher, who collaborated with Lando as head of a Boys and Girls Club in Maryland, said Pittsburghers are getting a top-notch leader.
“Hopefully, (Lando) will be able to make huge changes here — just like he did in Frederick,” Thrasher said.
“I’ve been fortunate to work with a lot of leaders throughout my career,” added Eric Louers-Phillips, an associate superintendent in Frederick County Public Schools District who also made the drive to Pittsburgh. “Jason is confident about what he knows — and doesn’t know. But he’s also humble enough to ask questions.”
“The fact that we’re here shows Jason’s commitment to what he does,” he added.
As the crowd spilled onto the fifth floor, some supporters of the new chief glowed with enthusiasm.
“What a great day!” City Controller Rachael Heisler quipped as she walked out of council chambers.
“It is a great day for the city — we’ve installed a chief of police who’s fully committed to transparency and accountability in this city,” added Elizabeth Pittinger, a Lando supporter and longtime executive director of Pittsburgh’s Citizen Police Review Board.
“Couldn’t you just feel the good will in that room today?” she added.