ST. LOUIS – Vernon Betts will serve his last day as St. Louis City Sheriff on Dec. 31, 2024. Alfred Montgomery is set to take over the role on Jan. 1, 2025.

Montgomery narrowly defeated Betts in the August 2024 primary election as the Democratic candidate for St. Louis City Sheriff, an outcome that election officials verified after a recount in September. Montgomery then won the office in the November 2024 general election, according to certified St. Louis election results.

Betts has held the office of St. Louis City Sheriff on the Democratic ticket since Jan. 1, 2017. In the August 2020 primary, Betts defeated Montgomery for a second term in office with a 61% to 27% advantage in election results.

FOX 2 spoke with both outgoing Sheriff Betts and Sheriff-elect Montgomery on the phone earlier this week to understand the current dynamics ahead of the scheduled switch.

The situation has become contentious, with Betts and Montgomery exchanging accusations over office access, staff behavior, and the extent of preparation needed before the handover.

Alfred Montgomery

Montgomery, the St. Louis City Sheriff-elect, is scheduled to take over on Jan. 1, 2025.

He claims that Betts is blocking transition processes, alleging that he is withholding access to servers, accounts, and other resources needed for administrative preparation.

“Vernon Betts refuses to transition the office,” Montgomery said. “Going into the office, we need to get our administrators cross-trained.”

Montgomery says he is concerned that corruption within the sheriff’s office is being covered up. He told FOX 2 he has requested a state audit and Sunshine Law requests.

Montgomery told FOX 2 that his team has started “interviewing some of [Betts’] administrators.”

Montgomery adds that he expects to rebuild the sheriff’s office administration team “from the ground up” upon taking office. He says it is also a priority of his to make sure city courts “are secured moving forward.”

“We’re prepared to go in,” he said. “We have a great team, starting with the administrators, that have experience that can help us build that department from the ground up.”

Vernon Betts

Betts, the current St. Louis City Sheriff, is slated to depart on Dec. 31, 2024.

Betts rejects the notion that the city’s upcoming sheriff change is a textbook transition of power.

“This ain’t the White House. It’s not that kind of situation. Mr. Montgomery has created this scenario of some kind of transition,” he said.

Betts told FOX 2 that when he was first elected sheriff in 2016 to begin a term in 2017, there was no formal handover process. Betts claims that he simply stepped into his role as sheriff on his first day without any prior coordination from his predecessor, Jim Murphy.

Betts also accuses Montgomery of intimidating administrators on his staff, saying this has led to several resignations and disruptions.

Betts also denies blocking Montgomery from entering the sheriff’s office building in recent weeks, saying he has been freely entering the office and meeting with judges. He has expressed frustration with Montgomery’s perceptions around the changeover.

“If Mr. Montgomery would go somewhere and sit down and wait his turn, this thing, it would be a smooth transition,” Betts said.

Betts insists that he is continuing with his job professionally through the end of his term, maintaining oversight of staff and financial accounts.

“The citizens of St. Louis elected me to do a job. And my job is going to continue through Dec. 31,” he said. “I’m going to be at work every day, doing what I’m supposed to do, doing it the way I’m supposed to do it.”