PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh police union leaders want a judge to develop a plan to distribute about $1.5 million in donations to the families of three slain city police officers.

Union president Daniel O'Hara said the oversight is needed to protect the families of officers Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo II and to preserve "public trust and perception."

All three were fatally shot responding to a dispute April 4 between a woman and her son, Richard Poplawski, 22, who is jailed on homicide charges.

The fund includes more than $912,000 in general donations, $449,000 from sales of memorial T-shirts, plus $83,000 earmarked for the education of Kelly and Mayhle's five children. Sciullo was single and childless.