RIVERVIEW, Mo. — The Village of Riverview is a small town of 2,500 people, with what was a 10-person police force. That changed a couple of weeks ago when seven officers quit all at once.
Interim police chief Tom Tumbrink is speaking with us for the first time about how he's leading the force that is now much smaller.
“Why did they leave?” asked Senior Investigative Reporter Paula Vasan.
"The officers did leave because of the pay, but the mayor was in the process of revisiting the budget to give them a raise," said Tumbrink.
The Village of Riverview Mayor Mike Cornell said the mass resignation spotlights some serious internal flaws.
"We have the internal investigations that were going on. And I believe the individuals who are investigated certainly understand and know that this was going on," said Cornell.
Investigations, he said, ranged from missing weapons and faulty financial records to community complaints.
"That's crazy talk," said Dave Reagan, Laborer's Local 42 union representative, in a July 1 interview. "I mean, if that had really happened, an outside agency should have been called in, whether county police or highway patrol."
Reagan, who claims to represent the local labor union, told the I-Team recently that he believes it all stems from a hostile work environment. He said the officers also weren’t paid for promised increases in pay.
Tumbrink and Cornell counter it’s more than that, so much more that outside agencies have been called in, including St. Louis County Police, the state's auditor's office, the Attorney General's Office, and the FBI.
Moving forward, they say the department will be making some changes, working toward accreditation for starters. It's a timely and pricey process to meet higher training standards. They'll be bringing in services to support mental health. And they're focusing on more community events to rebuild trust.
"I realized that I'm here for a reason and I'm serving a higher purpose to keep this community safe," said Tumbrink. “The village of review is protected, and we're here to provide safety and protection of the citizens. And we are doing that."
He said he is grateful for the support of other local police departments, namely St. Louis County Police and the Bellefontaine Police Department, which both stepped in to help.
We're told the police force is in the process of hiring. They could be back to being fully staffed by this week.