(Bloomberg) -- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio named his top uniformed police official, who came under fire for the department’s enforcement tactics during Black Lives Matter protests, to be a special public-safety adviser.

Terence Monahan, 59, who has served the last three years as chief of department, will retire after nearly four decades with the NYPD. In his new role, he will advise the mayor on how to increase businesses’ confidence in New York as the city experiences a rise in shootings and homicides.

“I can’t think of someone better to help us develop the strategy for the comeback,” de Blasio said during a Thursday briefing.

Monahan was the city’s commanding officer during demonstrations last summer, and was named in a civil-rights lawsuit by the New York Attorney General Letitia James over what she called the NYPD’s “pervasive use of excessive force and false arrests.” Monahan is scheduled to appear before the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the city’s oversight agency, next week to discuss complaints about the police tactics.

De Blasio did not address these accusations at the Thursday briefing announcing Monahan’s appointment. The mayor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Monahan said he would focus on getting workers back in office buildings that are 5% to 10% occupied. “It’s what do the businesses in the city need to feel comfortable to return to business?” Monahan said during de Blasio’s briefing.

Monahan’s replacement as the chief of department, Rodney Harrison, said he would be the third African American to hold the post and pledged at the Thursday briefing to forge better relations between police and minority communities in de Blasio’s final year as mayor.

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