Tulare police chief placed on leave, faces investigation

Tulare Police Chief Wes Hensley has been placed on administrative leave for “personnel” matters, city officials announced.

City Manager,Joe Carlini told the Visalia Times-Delta he could not provide more details about the action, but said Hensley will be investigated.

“I am sure people will understand, this is a personnel matter that needs to be investigated,” he said. “I won’t be doing the investigation. We will have someone else do it.”

Hensley declined to comment about the action and said he is seeking an attorney.

Hensley took over as police chief in 2015 when former chief Jerry Breckinridge became “unavailable” and was “out of the office” after Memorial Day 2015, according to the Times-Delta. Breckinridge was placed on paid administrative leave a few days later.

The Tulare city attorney told KFSN-TV that Barry Jones will be interim police chief.

This story will be updated.

This story was originally published September 29, 2017 at 12:50 PM with the headline "Tulare police chief placed on leave, faces investigation."