Jacksonville police chief returns to work after 3rd party investigation concludes

JACKSONVILLE, Texas (KLTV) - Jacksonville’s chief of police has been cleared to return to his position.

With the conclusion of a nearly three-week investigation by an independent third party firm, Jacksonville Police Chief Joe Williams has returned to his position as of Tuesday. The submission of an anonymous complaint against Williams spurred an investigation by the City of Jacksonville and conducted by Fee, Smith & Sharp, LLP.

The investigating attorney, Darrell G.M. Noga, said in a letter addressed to Jacksonville City Manager James Hubbard that the anonymous complaint lodged against Williams was “rife with numerous factually-unsupported conclusions, opinion and personal attacks” and as such differed “rather radically from most complaints, which typically are supported by some sort of factual specificity and evidentiary basis.”

Noga said that “comprehensive” interviews were conducted with “many potential witnesses,” as well as a detailed interview with Williams. Interviews with department employees and review of department documentation was investigated pertaining to performance, discipline, promotion and other related matters to “see if there was any documentary support for the complaint allegations; there was not.”

“In short,” Noga said, “we found no substantiation to the complaint allegations from either witnesses or from the documentation at hand.”

The letter concluded saying, “We see no reason Chief Williams should not return to work.”

Williams was on paid leave from August 29 to September 19, 2022, while the investigation was underway.

Previous reporting:

Jacksonville police chief on paid leave following anonymous allegation