Mayor Rahm Emanuel has asked Eddie Johnson, the Chicago Police Department’s African-American chief of patrol, to become the city’s next top cop in an unprecedented end-run around the Chicago Police Board aimed at boosting cops’ morale and restoring the community’s trust.

Sources told the Chicago Sun-Times that Emanuel offered the $260,044-a-year post to Johnson before rejecting the Police Board’s three recommended finalists to replace Supt. Garry McCarthy, dumped by Emanuel amid public outrage over the video released in November showing a white cop shooting and killing black teenager Laquan McDonald.