A veteran Miami police officer with two decades of experience dealing with the media and community leaders will take over as police chief in Ferguson, hoping to help the St. Louis suburb heal as it rebounds after the fatal 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown.

Miami Police Maj. Delrish Moss was announced as chief March 31, putting a black man in charge of a mostly white department that serves a town where African-Americans make up two-thirds of the residents.