TAMPA — At a time when police relationships with the black community are driving a national conversation, Mayor Bob Buckhorn on Thursday made Eric Ward, an African-American and east Tampa native, the city's next police chief.

Ward, a 26-year Tampa police veteran, will succeed Chief Jane Castor upon her May 8 retirement.

"Eric Ward is the right person at the right time for the Tampa Police Department," Buckhorn said, adding that he represents a "new generation of leadership" at the 1,000-officer agency.

"The perfect choice," Castor said. "He has the experience, the knowledge, the leadership ability and the temperament for this job."

Ward said he plans to focus on three areas as chief: community outreach, violent crime and officer training. The approach is an outgrowth of his experience growing up in east Tampa, where he lived in public housing, played in the storied Belmont Heights Little League and saw, firsthand, strained relations between police and residents.

"Every day for the last 26 years, I've come to work trying to bridge that gap between law enforcement and the community," Ward said.

The selection was not unexpected. Buckhorn has said for months he planned to promote the next chief from within. As one of his first duties, Ward named the other two candidates for the job — deputy chiefs Brian Dugan and Mary O'Connor — as his assistant chiefs, calling them a "dynamic duo."

Buckhorn has said he wants Castor's successor to follow her model, specifically her embrace of technology and intelligence-led policing to combat crime. The mayor also stressed the need for increased diversity within the department and the active recruitment of minorities.

Although Tampa police have celebrated some notable successes — a peaceful GOP convention, a 70 percent drop in serious crime in 12 years — both national and local events have raised the importance of community relations. Nationally, protests over relations between the police and black community in Ferguson, Mo., led Tampa ministers to begin meeting with law enforcement even before this week's rioting in Baltimore.

Locally, the TPD's challenges include:

• A rise in shootings and murders, with much of the violence concentrated in the inner city.

• Ongoing federal investigations into a DUI setup scandal and a once-respected homicide detective accused of taking part in a tax fraud scheme.

• A U.S. Justice Department review requested by the city after the Tampa Bay Times reported that Tampa police write more citations for bicycle violations than any other agency in Florida and that eight out of 10 tickets go to blacks. Buckhorn assigned Ward to coordinate the review.

Ward told reporters he thought the review is "a great idea" in the spirit of being "very transparent," though he agrees with the department's current program. Asked if he thought the Times' reports were unfair, he said, "I don't think it was unfair — it's something that we welcome."

Ward, 48, will be the second African-American to lead the Tampa Police Department. The first was Bennie Holder, who served as chief from 1992 to 2003. Ward's appointment also means that, for the first time, the bay area's two largest cities will have black police chiefs, with Tony Holloway leading the St. Petersburg Police Department.

City Council Chairman Frank Reddick said Buckhorn made the right call by choosing Ward.

"With the rising tension that's going on in the African-American community pertaining to the bicycle citations, we probably need someone with diversity leading the Police Department," Reddick said. "I think he has the personality to be the link to these people living in these impoverished communities."

The selection also received praise from Vincent Gericitano, president of the Tampa Police Benevolent Association, who said he favored promoting a new chief from within. He also said he has been meeting with Ward in the last few months, and noted that his leadership style would be different from Castor's.

"I have the utmost confidence that he is going to lead this agency into the future," he said.

Local pastors Tom Scott and James Favorite both said before the announcement that they hoped the new chief continues Castor's emphasis on community engagement and outreach.

"We have to continue to build community relationships," said Scott, a former chairman of the Tampa City Council and Hillsborough County Commission. "Given what's going on nationally, what's going on in Baltimore, you've got to have a chief who is community-oriented, so we can turn the tide."

Ward, who lives in West Tampa, will be paid $156,000 annually as chief. His appointment, which will go to the City Council for confirmation, is the latest promotion in an unusually fast rise to the top. Two years ago, he held the rank of lieutenant. A year later, he was a captain in the city's District III, overseeing patrol operations in the neighborhoods where he grew up.

Then, last May, he skipped the rank of major to become one of two deputy chiefs along with Dugan. Castor created the two temporary deputy chief positions specifically to prepare the two to lead the department. In November, Ward became assistant chief, Castor's second in command.

Since then, he has quietly emerged as a public face of the department, accompanying Castor to public events and appearing at news conferences. In April, he spoke briefly about his east Tampa upbringing in a law enforcement forum at Bible-Based Fellowship Church.

"If you went outside and said, 'Tomorrow I'm going to be a police officer,' that was like a guaranteed beatdown," Ward said, getting a laugh. "But through the right mentorship, the right resources … I was guided in the right direction."

He noted the specific influence of pastors and his school's resource officer, who pushed him toward a career in law enforcement. It was an unlikely ambition, but one Ward harbored in secret during his upbringing in public housing in the Belmont Heights neighborhood.

He credits his mother, a strict Christian, with keeping him out of trouble. Upon graduating from Hillsborough High School in 1984, Ward worked for the Tampa Housing Authority for four years before joining the police academy. His sister, Shawnette Dunning, also later joined the ranks, working as a Hillsborough sheriff's deputy.

As Ward climbed the police hierarchy, he spent time in just about every area of the department, including as commander of specialty teams — the bomb squad, hostage negotiation and SWAT teams, among others.

His wife, Alberta, is a first-grade teacher at Grady Elementary School in South Tampa. The couple have two college-age children. On Thursday, they joined hundreds of people who crowded the lobby of police headquarters for Buckhorn's announcement.

"His primary goal was always to be the best police officer he could be, and this was just an extra," his wife said. "He wants to do his best for his community and see Tampa succeed."

Ward's sister, Cheryl Ward, said she is proud of her little brother, who used to talk about being a police officer when they were kids.

"He's worked very hard to get to this point," she said. "And it's finally history."

Times staff writers Sue Carlton and Caitlin Johnston contributed to this report. Contact Dan Sullivan at dsullivan@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3386. Follow @TimesDan.