Monroe Police Chief Retires After Conduct Investigation

The saga involving Monroe’s chief of police has come to an end. After a lengthy investigation; Monroe Police Chief Ron Schleuter is retiring. This comes after the mayor demoted the chief to captain earlier this week for secretly recording their conversations. Its been almost six months since Monroe Chief of Police Ron Schleuter was caught hitting the record button. Recordings leaked to NBC 10 of the police chief recording Mayor Jamie Mayo without him knowing about it. Wednesday the mayor read Schleuter's retirement letter. "That I will retire as Chief of Police of the Monroe Police Department effective the end of the week,” said Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo. In February, Schleuter was put on paid leave until the investigation into his secret recordings ended. The discipline: Mayor Mayo ordered Schleuter be demoted to captain rather than termination. "There have been many positive things that have occurred in his 30 year tenure so I commend him for that,” said Mayor Mayo. At first, Schleuter filed a suit to keep his job as chief. Mayo says because Schleuter retired, all charges against him will be dropped and he'll retire as chief leaving with the same pay. "We can restore confidence of internal plus external public confidence,” said Mayo. As for the over $60 thousand the city has paid to investigate the chief; that cost goes back to taxpayers. "We're not requesting Schleuter to repay anything he's made a decision to retire and we're accepting this letter,” said Mayo. Mayo says he's just ready to put the long investigation behind him and move forward with Herbert Otwell serving as interim chief. "We want to assure the citizens of Monroe that we're going to be proactive in our efforts to protect them,” said Otwell. As for recording city employees without them knowing it, Mayor Mayo says it's a matter the city needs to look into. City officials say the process to find a new chief could take up to six months to complete.