ST. LOUIS — The city sheriff is backing a plan that could make a reelection rival ineligible for office. But he says that’s not what he’s trying to do.
A bill being debated in the statehouse would require anyone serving as the ºüÀêÊÓƵ sheriff to be a state-licensed peace officer. The current sheriff, Vernon Betts, is licensed. Alfred Montgomery, a former deputy challenging Betts for the Democratic nomination, is not.
Montgomery says a peace officer license is unnecessary for the administrative job of sheriff and calls Betts’ push for the requirement an act of political sabotage. He pointed out the incumbent didn’t have a license before he was elected either.
“He’s trying to orchestrate democracy,†Montgomery said in an interview.
Betts says he’s doing nothing of the sort.
People are also reading…
“Alfred Montgomery is a pathological liar,†he said in an interview, “and he’s not going to win an election by bastardizing Vernon Betts.â€
The real plot, Betts said, is to make sure the sheriff leads by example.
He said he’s spent the past seven years trying to professionalize a department long seen as a clumsy patronage office. A big part of that push has been putting his staff through state peace officer training. Such training, Betts said, equips them to go beyond guarding courtrooms and serving papers and actually police downtown and on MetroLink, for example.
And Betts said he couldn’t ask sheriffs to do something he wouldn’t, so he got trained with them two years ago.
He said Montgomery could do the same thing before the August primaries, too.
“Go to school, Mr. Montgomery. Go to school,†he said.
Montgomery demurred. Training courses can cost several thousand dollars.
“I’m going to get my certification just like the sheriff did,†he said. “On the city’s dime.â€
The bill, from State Rep. Chad Perkins, R-Bowling Green, has passed out of a House committee but has yet to receive votes on the floor.
Sen. Karla May, D-ºüÀêÊÓƵ, is carrying companion legislation in the Senate, but she said she plans to soften the licensing requirement and give a new sheriff two years in office to satisfy it.
Anthony Anderson, a retired ºüÀêÊÓƵ police officer who is also in the Democratic primary race, did not return a call seeking comment for this story.
It was not immediately clear whether he had an active peace officer license.
The legislation is Ìý²¹²Ô»å .