Reading's top cop is off the street for now, and City Hall is not saying much about why.
The mayor of Reading placed the city's police chief on administrative leave on Wednesday and tapped Lieutenant Daniel Flottemesch to serve as interim chief, the municipality announced. Officials said the move follows the launch of an external investigation and added that city leaders will have no further comment while the probe is active.
According to a post on the City of Reading Facebook page, the mayor ordered the leave "pending the results of an external investigation" and identified Flottemesch as "interim chief of the department until further notice." The post did not offer any details about the focus of the probe or which outside agency is handling it.
The city's official website lists Bryan Edens as the head of the Reading Police Department and notes that the department fields about 20 full-time officers and responds to roughly 12,000 calls a year, according to the City of Reading police page. With a department that size, a leadership shake-up can be felt quickly in day-to-day operations.
Lt. Daniel Flottemesch's background
Flottemesch has been with the Reading Police Department for years and was reported in 2012 to have been seriously injured while pursuing a suspect, according to contemporaneous coverage by WLWT. Public payroll records and city listings identify him as a longtime Reading officer who has advanced into supervisory ranks.
What the city said and what's next
The Facebook post stated that city officials will have no further comment while the external investigation is ongoing and did not provide a timeline for when it might wrap up. It also did not name the outside agency conducting the probe or outline what the next procedural steps will be.
For now, Lieutenant Flottemesch will lead the department as interim chief, and the mayor's brief announcement remains the main public record on the situation. Officials have directed residents to follow municipal channels for any future updates while the investigation continues.
