This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: July 25, 2008 - After forcing the retirement of Chief Joe Mokwa, the St. Louis Police Board now faces the important task of selecting his successor.
The board announced Friday that Assistant Police Chief Stephen Pollihan will assume the duties of interim police chief for the 1,342-officer department.
Pollihan is one of five lieutenant colonel-deputy chiefs, a group that would have to be considered the frontrunners in any search to take the top spot.
Mokwa, 59, has been the chief since 2001. He offered his resignation -- technically, his retirement -- in a closed-door meeting Friday at police headquarters. The five-member board accepted the resignation unanimously, then approved a severence package amounting to about $100,000, or about a year's salary, said Police Board President Chris Goodson.
State law prohibits the Police Board from hiring a chief from outside the department and requires that the candidate have the rank of at least a captain. Only once in at least the last three decades has the board dropped below the rank of lieutenant colonel and selected a major. That was John Berner, who was chief from 1982 to 1985.
Since Berner, the Police Board has only interviewed lieutenant colonels for the job of chief.
In addition to Pollihan, 58, the other lieutenant colonels are:
* Lt. Col. Reggie L. Harris, 51, deputy chief of the Bureau of Patrol Support. Harris is the highest-ranking African-American on the department. Mokwa, who is white, followed in the steps of two African-American police chiefs -- Clarence Harmon and Ron Henderson. In a city more than half African-American, race has always played a role in the city's top leadership positions.
* Lt. Col. David R. Heath, 60, deputy chief of the Bureau of Professional Standards. Heath is perhaps Mokwa's closest confidante on the department. Heath has told friends that he was contemplating retirement later this year.
* Lt. Col. Roy Joachimstaler, 56, deputy chief of the Bureau of Criminal Investigations.
* Lt. Col. Timothy Reagan, 52, deputy chief of the Bureau of Auxiliary Services. Reagan has not been considered an ally of Mokwa. Mokwa last year removed Reagan from his high-profile position as chief of detectives.
Mokwa resigned after the board believed he had not been fully truthful about his knowledge of his daughter's use of impounded cars. The cars came from a towing company that had a contract with the police department. After St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporters asked questions about the towing service this spring, the Police Board hired a private law firm to investigate the situation. The controversy became public last Friday when the board unveiled the law firm's findings. Mokwa has insisted he has done nothing wrong.
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay had called in his blog on Thursday for Mokwa to retire even though he said he admired the chief.
Late this afternoon, Mokwa acknowledged that the board challenged his credibility. He said he continued to welcome an investigation into the use of the impounded cars. He said his retirement was in the best interest of the department. "I'll admit," he said, "I make this decision with sadness. I truly love my work." Click here to read the chief's statement.
The board has not announced a deadline for selecting a new chief.
Bill Bryan covered the St. Louis police beat for more than 30 years with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. He covered six chiefs during his tenure. Last year, shortly before he retired from the Post-Dispatch, Bryan broke two stories that plagued Joe Mokwa's administration -- the World Series ticket scandal and the theft of $40,000 from the St. Louis Police Department's evidence locker.