Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has selected Charlie Beck, a 32-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department with strong support from rank-and-file officers and civil rights advocates alike, to serve as the next chief of the LAPD.

The choice of the LAPD deputy chief for the post, which the mayor announced at a news conference this morning, comes at a time of uncertainty for the department with its budget battered by the city's fiscal crisis and morale of rank-and-file officers wavering in the face of a new contract that offers no pay raise. [For the record: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the mayor spoke at a news conference Wednesday morning.]

"He's a man who understands the past, a man who is an important part of the present and a man who will shape this department in the future," Villaraigosa said to a bank of television cameras transmitting the announcement live. "Charlie Beck will lead the charge to make Los Angeles the safest city it can be."

Beck, 56, has risen quickly through the department's command ranks in recent years and was widely viewed as the favorite to be tapped as the mayor's nominee.