Dominic J. Costa (born 1951) is a Democratic politician. He was a member of the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

, and was the Chief of the

Pittsburgh Police The Pittsburgh Police (PBP), officially the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, is the largest law enforcement agency in Western Pennsylvania and the third largest in Pennsylvania. The modern force of salaried and professional officers was founded in 1 ...

in 2006, and was a 27-year veteran of the force. He is a member of the Costa political family in Pittsburgh.

Career

Law enforcement

He began his police career in suburban East McKeesport in 1977 and in 1979 became an officer with Pittsburgh. In 1981 he became a negotiator with the force eventually being promoted to Commander. He was injured by a shooter in a February 2002 standoff in the Homewood neighborhood, and briefly retired from the force. From January 2, 2006 – September 28, 2006 he was

Pittsburgh Police Chief The Pittsburgh Police Chief is an American law enforcement official who serves as the head of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, appointed by the Mayor of Pittsburgh. The Chief is a civilian administrator, and was historically referred to as the P ...

appointed by Pittsburgh mayor Bob O'Connor. He retired again from the PBP after then Mayor

Luke Ravenstahl Luke Robert Ravenstahl (born February 6, 1980) is an American politician who served as the 59th Mayor of Pittsburgh from 2006 until 2014. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, he became the youngest mayor in Pittsburgh's history in Septe ...

's administration took over

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

and for a time became the Police Chief of suburban Penn Hills before going into elected office as a State representative.

Politics

Costa was first elected in 2008, receiving 78% of the vote. He defeated Dan Mahon and Jonah Yon McAllister-Erickson. Costa ran unopposed through 2016. However, in the 2018 Democratic Primary election, Costa faced a challenge from

Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a political organization in the United States and the country's largest Socialism, socialist organization. Sitting on the Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left of the politic ...

-endorsed member Sara Innamorato. In the election, Costa lost to Innamorato, who ran unopposed in the general election. Costa also failed to secure the Republican nomination in a last-minute

write-in A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...

campaign.

Education

He graduated from the

Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) is a Public university, public research university in Indiana, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and Carnegie Classification o ...

criminal justice training center.

References

External links