Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama applies to be Austin's next top cop

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama has applied to be the next top cop of a major Texas city.

According to ABC affiliate KVUE, Balderrama is on the list of 32 people who applied to be the chief of the Austin Police Department.

Balderrama was placed on paid administrative leave from his role as Fresno police chief earlier this month.

The decision came after allegations of Balderrama being involved in an 'inappropriate relationship' came to light.

The Austin American Statesman newspaper broke the story about Balderrama's application and spoke with Action News about how it found the list of applicants.

"We put in a public information request to the city for all of the applicants that had applied. We received a first batch last week," explained Skye Seipp, a reporter with Austin American Statesman.

It's unclear when Balderrama applied for the job but the city started taking applications on May 15, three weeks before the allegations of his inappropriate relationship were made public.

"We just went through, quickly found out basic information and also did quick Google searches on people to see if anyone was controversial or anything like that," said Seipp.

It turns out Balderrama isn't the only candidate making controversial headlines.

Seven others have been suspended, fired or resigned from their police departments.

One candidate, who is a former FBI special agent, has been questioned over his conduct in the January 6th capitol riot cases.

If Balderrama makes it through to the final round of interviews, he'll have to answer to the people of Austin directly before a decision is made.

"Also have community meetings with those candidates as well. So anyone can meet them and ask questions, in a town hall-type setting," said Seipp.

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