Incoming St. Louis sheriff gives notice to top brass ahead of swearing-in

ST. LOUIS — The city’s sheriff-elect notified several of the current sheriff’s top brass on Wednesday that they’ll be out of a job when he takes over next month, outgoing Sheriff Vernon Betts said.

Alfred Montgomery, a former deputy who unseated Betts in a contentious Democratic primary, handed letters to several of Betts’ lieutenants, captains and majors saying they’ll be terminated when he’s sworn in Jan. 1.

“He’s got my entire shop in an uproar today,” Betts said.

Montgomery did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Wednesday.

The notifications mark the latest dust-up between the two political opponents over an office in charge of transporting prisoners from jail to and from court, providing courthouse security and serving legal papers, including eviction notices and protection orders.

Throughout the campaign, the two men blasted each other as being unprofessional. Montgomery accused Betts of squandering millions in taxpayer money. Betts called him a “lying sack.”

Tensions did not cool once Montgomery won the election by 221 votes. Montgomery accused Betts of blocking his transition into office. Betts said Montgomery should just wait his turn.

“This ain’t the White House,” Betts said. “There’s no such thing as a transition.”

Meanwhile, Montgomery recently told KTVI-FOX2 he planned to rebuild the administration “from the ground up” with a new team of administrators.

And he told St. Louis Public Radio that more cuts were coming.

Betts, though, said his preemptive notices were making an understaffing problem even worse. Six deputies had recently resigned from the department, Betts said, putting him down to 155 people out of the 170 for which his office is budgeted.

He said he didn’t know how he’d get his leadership team to stick around knowing they’d be gone in a few weeks.

“This guy is really giving me the blues,” Betts said.