The chief constable of South Yorkshire Police, David Crompton, has been suspended in the aftermath of the Hillsborough inquest findings.
On Tuesday, Crompton said the force got the policing of the match "catastrophically wrong" and that it "unequivocally" accepted the inquest jury's verdicts.
The jury found that the 96 Liverpool fans who died in the 1989 disaster had been unlawfully killed.
South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings said there had been "an erosion of trust."
"I have been left with no choice other than to suspend David from his duties as chief constable of South Yorkshire police," he said.
"I have reached this decision with a heavy heart following discussions with David both in the run-up to, and following the delivery of, the Hillsborough verdicts.
"My decision is based on the erosion of public trust and confidence referenced in statements and comments in the House of Commons, along with public calls for the chief constable's resignation from a number of quarters.
"I was getting increasingly anxious about the way public trust and confidence was beginning to drain away today, so we had to stop that."
He added that last month Crompton had declared his intention to retire in November, and that the process of replacing him had already begun.
The shadow home secretary, Andy Burnham, who has campaigned for justice for the Hillsborough victims, called for Crompton's resignation in the Commons.
He said the jury's conclusions had finally brought justice and said South Yorkshire Police "has consistently put protecting itself above protecting people harmed by Hillsborough."
He said the force had gone back on its 2012 public apology following the release of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report and had engaged in an "adversarial battle" at the inquests.
"Shamefully, the cover-up continued in this court room," he said. "Millions of pounds of public money were spent re-telling discredited lies.
"If the police had chosen to maintain its apology, this inquest would have been much shorter. But they didn't, and they put the families through hell once again."
The inquest jury found blunders by South Yorkshire's police and ambulance services "caused or contributed to" the deaths at Hillsborough.
Jurors also concluded that Liverpool fans were not to blame for what happened.