MANCHESTER — The city’s police chief on Wednesday was placed on paid administrative leave “as part of an ongoing, independent investigation.”
Officials announced police Chief Scott Will’s leave on Thursday but did not specify the nature of that investigation. They would only say that it did not have to do with the Regional Justice Information System, or REJIS, a database of residents’ backgrounds whose illicit use in the neighboring city of Ballwin has prompted a contentious legal saga.
The announcement also said Capt. Craig Smith, the department’s deputy police chief, resigned Tuesday. No reason for his departure was given.
Manchester police Lt. Ed Skaggs was appointed acting chief while Will is on leave.
City officials would not comment further, citing personnel issues.
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Will
Will became chief in January 2019 and made $141,448 in 2022, according to the Post-Dispatch’s public pay database.
The chief was a police officer for 33 years in Maryland Heights before he was tapped to lead the Manchester department, according to a 2019 press release.
Manchester is home to about 18,000 people and its police department has about 42 full-time employees. Almost all of them are sworn officers.
The investigation involving Will comes on the tail of Ballwin’s recent ouster of police Chief Douglas Schaeffler. He was put on administrative leave in October and two months later was fired by the Board of Aldermen in a unanimous vote.
Schaeffler sued the city in January alleging that elected officials conspired to illegally oust him in a “sham hearing” as an act of retaliation.
But an internal report obtained in June by the Post-Dispatch claims that Schaeffler had run more than 1,000 names through REJIS in the previous four years.
The database is used by most police departments in the St. Louis region to track criminal charges, criminal background, driver’s licenses and vehicle registration information, among other details.
Now Ballwin is also dealing with a class action lawsuit filed June 10 against the city and Schaeffler, seeking compensation for the hundreds of residents whose privacy rights may have been violated.
The department in late June announced Capt. John Bergfeld was hired as chief and will make $127,978 a year.
Schaeffler’s firing came just months after Ballwin’s neighbor to the east, Town and Country, also ousted its top cop.
Former Town and Country Chief James Cavins was put on paid administrative leave in mid-July 2023 and negotiated a settlement agreement with the city that was effective Aug. 1.
Lt. Danny Wilkey was hired as chief there in November.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch tracks the data behind reported homicides on an interactive map that allows readers to explore information in various ways.