Louisville Metro Police Department has made a historic hiring in light of continued scrutiny after the shooting death of Breonna Taylor.

On Thursday (July 20), the department announced Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel, 49, as its new police chief, The Associated Press shared. She became the first Black woman to serve in the role full-time. Before the recent promotion, she occupied the position in an interterm role after former Chief Erika Shields stepped down. Gwinn-Villaroel joined the force in 2021 from the Atlanta Police Department alongside Shields.

In a news conference, Mayor Craig Greenberg, whose city has gone through several chiefs and interim leaders after Taylor’s death, said Gwinn-Villaroel was chosen after a nationwide search. “This is a challenging job,” Greenberg noted. “And over the last few months, it’s become very clear that the best person to do this work is already on the job.” The new chief added, “I stand here today on the shoulders of so many who paved the way for me and opened the doors,” as she thanked the mayor for taking a “leap of faith” with her hiring.

Based on an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, LMPD has been criticized for violating its Black residents’ civil rights for years. The probe was ignited by the police killing of Taylor in 2020, who was asleep when authorities attempted a failed raid on her apartment.

At the time, law enforcement believed the 26-year-old’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who was at the center of a drug investigation, was using Taylor’s place to receive packages. When police entered the home, Walker mistook them for intruders and fired several shots. Authorities returned fire and fatally wounded Taylor. “But Louisville Metro’s and LMPD’s unlawful conduct did not start in 2020,” the DOJ’s report noted. “As an LMPD leader told us shortly after we opened this investigation, ‘Breonna Taylor was a symptom of problems that we have had for years.'”