Boston getting first black police commissioner

William G. Gross was named the city of Boston’s first African-American police commissioner Monday, The Boston Globe reported.

Gross will succeed Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans, who is leaving the post in August to run the public safety department at Boston College, according to the newspaper. 

Gross will become commissioner after serving as superintendent-in-chief to Evans, and will become the first person of color to lead the department, according to the Globe.

{mosads}Evans leaves his job as Boston Police Commissioner after leading the 3,000-person department for more than four years. 

“We’re losing an incredible leader today and bringing in someone right behind him who’s an incredible leader,” Mayor Martin J. Walsh said at a news conference, according to The Globe.

Martin referred to Gross as a “proven leader” and someone “who is the right person at the right time for this job,” according to the newspaper.

MassLive notes that Gross got his start at the Boston Police Department in 1985 as a patrol officer.

He eventually became the highest-ranking police officer in the department, before taking over as superintendent-in-chief in 2014. At the time, Gross became the first black police chief in the department’s history.