A former Pittsburgh police commander on Friday morning agreed to take 24 months of probation on charges that he stashed body-worn cameras in patrol cars last fall to secretly record more than a half-dozen of his own officers.

Matthew Lackner, 50, a Mt. Lebanon resident who led Pittsburgh police’s Zone 2 from 2021 to 2023, hid officers’ body-worn cameras in police vehicles to record some 75 hours of conversations among at least seven Pittsburgh police officers from Sept. 27 to Oct. 4, according to a separate lawsuit in the case.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Kelly Bigley sided with prosecutors and handed Lackner probation — which would keep him out of jail — in an Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) hearing that lasted around 30 seconds.

The ARD program allows the defendant the chance to have charges removed from their criminal history record after they complete probation, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office said on its website.

Lackner quickly left the Allegheny County Courthouse’s third floor when a TribLive reporter approached him on Friday. His attorney declined comment.

“I do not have a position on judicial decisions since I do not control those outcomes,” Pittsburgh police Chief Larry Scirotto said Friday. “The bureau will always hold our members accountable when there are clear issues of misconduct.”

In one recording described in a civil suit filed in March, Lackner sat in his office and placed a small, yellow Post-It note over his own body-worn camera, hiding it underneath his dark-blue police uniform shirt, as he taped a conversation with a lieutenant, the complaint said.

Lackner was seen in later footage placing a body-worn camera in a black SUV, in which three of Zone 2’s five plainclothes detectives traveled. Those detectives were recorded without their knowledge or consent.

Pittsburgh police placed Lackner on paid administrative on Oct. 16, pending the completion of an internal investigation. He ended his 29-year tenure with Pittsburgh police when he retired two days later.

Allegheny County Police launched a criminal investigation in October. They charged Lackner in February with four counts of illegal use of wired or oral communications in the wiretapping case.

“Anyone that betrays the trust of our organization is dealt with immediately,” Scirotto said at the time of Lackner’s arrest.

It was unknown Friday if Lackner remained eligible for his police pension.

Police officials told TribLive in November that the former commander would keep collecting his pension — nearly $6,500 a month — unless he’s convicted on these or other criminal charges.

The board of managers of Pittsburgh Policemen’s Relief and Pension Fund voted unanimously Nov. 9 to pay Lackner an annual pension of nearly $78,000. Staff from the fund did not respond to a phone call Friday seeking comment.

Robert Swartzwelder, president of police union Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 1, also declined to comment.

Lackner’s reason for taping his officers also remains unclear.

Pennsylvania is a two-party consent state, which means all parties involved in a conversation must consent before a conversation can be recorded. Police officers and other law enforcement officials also cannot conduct or monitor these types of recordings without “Class A” certification, which Lackner did not have.

Zone 2 includes Downtown, the Strip District and part of the Hill District. Cmdr. Tim Novosel officially took over the leadership role in Zone 2 on Feb. 9.

The salary for commanders in 2022 was more than $121,000, up from nearly $109,000 a year earlier, records show. By comparison, the starting salary in 2023 for a first-year Pittsburgh police officer was $25.69 an hour, or about $53,000 a year.

Justin Vellucci is a TribLive reporter covering crime and public safety in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. A longtime freelance journalist and former reporter for the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press, he worked as a general assignment reporter at the Trib from 2006 to 2009 and returned in 2022. He can be reached at jvellucci@triblive.com.