Officials in Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County removed the names of local, state, and federal judges were removed from its real estate Web site, but turned down a request to remove the names of police officers from the same site, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Asked County Manager Jim Flynn, “Where do you draw the line?” The names of about 100 judges were taken off the site in May after the local chief federal judge expressed concerns about security when a federal judge’s family in Chicago was murdered.
Then two local police chiefs asked the county to consider extending the policy to police officers. Flynn said it would be too difficult to determine which officers to include. Many of the more than 3,000 officers at 119 police departments in the county work part time. The site lets users insert a name to search for the values and addresses of 550,000 properties in the county. Anyone can still find the name of a property owner, including judges, at a county office building. Michael Havens Jr., union president for Pittsburgh police, said that if the county doesn’t remove police officers’ names, “we have to consider going to court.”