ST. LOUIS – From an alleged secret luxury vehicle to the latest FOX 2 discovery of new tactical robots, the St. Louis Sheriff’s Office is now breaking its silence with the media.

“That’s kind of an inexpensive way to take a small shot at a big problem,” retired judge David Mason said in response to our latest findings.

Mason recently left 34 years as a circuit court judge to join the St. Louis Sheriff’s Office as its lawyer.

Missouri statute only allows him to be paid $15,000 a year for the job, which Mason said is proof he’s only representing Sheriff Alfred Montgomery because he wants to.

“He’s young, but he has a lot of vision about what he wants to do,” Mason said of Sheriff Montgomery.

He agreed to talk on behalf of the Sheriff to answer FOX 2’s latest discovery of two tactical robots that cost a combined $10k. 

The office showed us one of them in action.

“It’s a stopgap immediate measure for a big security problem,” Mason said.

We’ve seen cases of courtroom violence because Mason said other courthouses have cameras everywhere, but not in St. Louis.

“We know that if somebody wants to take over a courtroom,” the retired judge said, “…we don’t know what’s going on in there.”

He says the roving remote robot could be the eyes to help court security respond to a threat.

“Security is job one,” Mason said.

He also agreed to address the new Chevy Tahoe we revealed on FOX 2 Thursday: “Historically, the car for the Sheriff has been purchased from that budget, and that’s what this Sheriff did.”

Mason said funds were used that don’t impact taxpayers; rather, he said they came from a pot of fees collected from things like the office’s process serving. 

He said the vehicle will be Sheriff Montgomery’s take-home car, adding, “There’s always a car available to make sure business is done and that’s really what it comes down to.”

Mason said more changes are coming. 

He also promised the Sheriff’s Office will be more open about those changes – as we continue following decisions that impact the public.