EAST LANSING — A high-ranking Michigan State University Police official was placed on administrative leave Wednesday, a university spokeswoman confirmed.

Assistant Chief Valerie O’Brien, leader of the department’s Field Services Bureau, is barred from accessing the department during the leave. She is still receiving pay, spokeswoman Emily Guerrant said in a text message to the Lansing State Journal.

Detective JJ Bradoc has been on leave since Feb. 1, Guerrant said. According to Lansing State Journal archives, O’Brien and Bradoc are married.

Guerrant would not comment on the circumstances surrounding O’Brien’s leave or Bradoc’s.

As head of the Field Services Bureau, O’Brien oversees the department’s investigative division, which handles specialized issues including relationship violence and sexual misconduct, behavioral threat assessments and violent crimes. She also oversees the uniform division, which consists of officers using a community policing model.

Guerrant declined to comment on whether O’Brien’s leave is connected to an ongoing Title IX investigation in the department.

In March, the State Journal reported multiple department employees were under investigation for possible violations of the university’s relationship violence and sexual misconduct policy. The investigation started around mid-February.

MSU Police Chief Kelly Roudebush did not respond to an emailed request for comment. Department spokesman Doug Monette did not return a call requesting comment.

When O'Brien was a detective in the department, she handled its investigation of Amanda Thomashow's 2014 sexual assault complaint against former MSU physician Larry Nassar.

The department submitted a warrant for criminal sexual conduct following O'Brien's investigation, but prosecutors denied the charges twice verbally and once in an email. A Title IX investigation that stemmed from Thomashow's report found Nassar had not violated university policy.

Read more Michigan State coverage on LSJ.com:

Michigan State considering ban on sex between professors and undergrads. Here’s why.

Retired judge with ties to Engler, Catholic Church will help MSU set new Title IX policy

AG adds new sex crime charge for ex-MSU dean William Strampel, Larry Nassar's former boss

Contact reporter Megan Banta at (517) 377-1261 or mbanta@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @MeganBanta_1. Contact Carol Thompson at (517) 377-1018 or ckthompson@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @thompsoncarolk.