Pittsburgh’s chief of police has been criticised by his own officers after a picture surfaced on the internet showing him holding a placard which said: “I resolve to challenge racism @ work #EndWhiteSilence”.

The message was carried by members of What’s Up?! Pittsburgh, a group that says it seeks racial justice “in 2015 and beyond”, during the city’s New Year’s Eve First Night celebrations. The group subsequently tweeted a picture of Chief Cameron McLay, who smiled as he held their placard.

The head of a Pittsburgh police union told local TV station KDKA the picture of McLay showed “the chief is calling us racists”.



Howard McQuillan added: “He believes the Pittsburgh Police Department is racist. This has angered a lot of officers.”



McLay subsequently emailed the entire Pittsburgh Police Bureau to apologise to anyone he had offended, and explained how he came to be photographed holding the placard.

“I was hired to restore the legitimacy of the police department,” McLay said. “I did not seek these young activists out. I was stopping for coffee at First Night. Their message is not anti-anybody. It is simply a call for awareness. The photo was a great, spontaneous moment in time. Please join dialogue for community healing.”

McLay added: “To me, the term ‘white silence’ simply means that we must be willing to speak up to address issues of racial injustice, poverty, etc. In my heart, I believe we all must come together as community to address real world problems; and I am willing to be a voice to bring community together.”

The mayor of Pittsburgh, Bill Peduto, who hired McLay in September, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he supported his police chief’s decision to hold the campaign group’s placard.

“I thought, ‘What a great way to begin the new year,’” the mayor said. “I thought there was very little chance for someone to say this was the wrong message to send.”

TribLIVE.com (@TribLIVE) Photo shows new Pittsburgh police Chief Cameron McLay supporting protest group http://t.co/xEQm66igkc pic.twitter.com/iarbiILBvN

On 2 January, McLay also issued a lengthy statement on Facebook, in which he addressed tensions over police treatment of people of colour that have been high across the US in recent months, after the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of officers in Ferguson, Missouri, New York City and elsewhere, and decisions by grand juries not to indict officers involved.



In New York, a rift has opened between police unions and Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has voiced qualified support for protests over perceived police brutality and described his advice to his son, who is biracial, over how to interact with officers. On Sunday, some NYPD officers again turned their backs on their mayor, as they attended the funeral of the second of two officers who were shot dead in Brooklyn two weeks ago.

On Facebook, McLay said: “The reality of US policing is that our enforcement efforts have a disparate impact on communities of colour. This is a statistical fact.

“You know, as well as I, the social factors driving this reality. The gross disparity in wealth and opportunity is evident in our city. Frustration and disorder are certain to follow. The predominant patterns of our city’s increased violence involves black victims as well as actors. If we are to address this violence, we must work together with our communities of colour.

“We, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, need to acknowledge how this reality feels to those impacted communities.”