RIVERVIEW, Mo. — The majority of the Riverview Police Department in North County walked off the job Thursday. Now at least two other agencies are stepping in to help the Village of Riverview.
Dave Reagan with Laborer's Local 42 says officers resigned because of a hostile work environment. He says officers weren't given promised increases in pay and were not paid for overtime.
"Your actions have caused most of your police department to leave. Now you need to explain to your citizens why you did what you did," said Reagan.
The mayor of the Village of Riverview, Mike Cornell, sat down with 5 On Your Side's I-Team reporter Paula Vasan to explain why he believes it all stems from corruption.
For months, he said he begged local and state officials to investigate. Cornell showed us a series of documents as proof, explaining the mass resignation of the police department was a long time coming.
"What I've done, is raise the standard of accountability and I try to apply the rule of law and a code of ethics. And by raising our standard, people resign. Oh, people resign from their positions,” said Cornell.
The mayor said seven out of 10 officers, including the interim chief, have resigned. Officers have complained about pay cuts, but Cornell said the problems were much worse than that.
He told us a few months ago, someone came to him with alarming allegations, saying weapons and a vehicle had been stolen by officers and financial records were destroyed.
"It was a whistleblower inside of the Village Police Department, and I commend him for what he did. It takes a lot of courage to do that. And I believe he wanted change when I spoke with him and he had tears in his eyes,” said Cornell.
Cornell said he emailed the FBI and alerted St. Louis County Police but he is unaware of any ongoing investigation into the matter.
Reagan, from Local 42, says the lack of an investigation is all the rebuttal necessary.
"That's crazy talk. If that had really happened an outside agency should have been called in, St. Louis County or the Missouri Highway Patrol and they should have taken over the investigation. That did not happen," said Reagan.
Now, with only two full-time police officers and one backup left in the department, Bellefontaine Neighbors and St. Louis County police will be helping out.
On Tuesday, the mayor said two new officers have officially started training.
However, the department is still seeking six more applicants by Thursday to "completely restore the manpower with the department." By early next week, the department will have a fully new staff "moving in a new direction."
5 On Your Side reached out to the Riverview Police Department for perspectives from the remaining officers, but have not heard back by our deadline.
On Friday, 5 On Your Side received an emailed statement allegedly from six officers who resigned from the Village of Riverview Police Department. It reads:
City officials in The Village of Riverview cut officers' pay without notice by $8,000 in May. This is a violation of Missouri Wage and Hour 30-day wage reduction notice requirement. The newly elected Mayor and Board of Trustees have shown no support for police officers or public safety. Mayor Cornell and the Board had promised to partially reinstate raises but have yet to do so. The Board was allegedly going to discuss the pay increases on Thursday, June 22nd but it is still unknown to us if this was discussed in the closed session.
Riverview Personnel Policy states "salaries shall not be decreased." Raises were discussed and approved by the previous Board at two open meetings in January 2023. The officers’ pay is supposed to be discussed in an open Board of Trustees meeting before implementation. This issue was not one of the topics discussed at the most recent meeting on Thursday, June 22nd. In addition to salary issues, the Mayor and Board have proposed not paying officers for their current compensatory time totals and improperly demoting officers.
This is an unfortunate situation that has been going on for months. As police officers, we want to protect the community that we love dearly. But the Mayor and the Board of Trustees have created a hostile work environment and do not value us as police officers which is therefore putting our community in danger. We urge the Mayor and the Village of Riverview Board of Trustees (Darrin Johnson, Judy Jones, Pat Lewis, Shawnte Jackson) to change course and support our police officers.