Jacksonville police chief on administrative leave

JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville Police Department chief has been placed on administrative leave, officials confirmed on Wednesday. That’s according to our news partner KETK. According to a statement from the local government, “The City of Jacksonville administration office received an anonymous allegation against the Chief of Police, Joe Williams. Upon communicating this allegation to Chief Williams, he graciously requested to be placed on paid administrative leave until the conclusion of the investigation within 2-3 weeks in order to allow all voices to be heard without reservation. The City believes that people are the priority. As such we have procured an outside party to investigate the allegation.”

The statement continues, “In order to protect the integrity of the investigation, at this time, we are not able to disclose the details of the ongoing investigation. Joe Williams has been the Chief of Police for the City of Jacksonville since January of 2020. He was placed on leave Monday, August 29, 2022.” Williams has worked in law enforcement for 32 years. He was also deputy city manager and police chief for McKinney. In January of 2017, he became the police chief for the Rusk Police Department.