BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Police Department Commissioner Byron Lockwood is planning to retire from his position in February, according to the city of Buffalo director of communications Mike DeGeorge Sunday.

The Buffalo News reported the police department veteran announced at a police function Friday that he will depart at the end of February.

Lockwood has been with the department, the largest in upstate New York, for 38 years. He was the deputy commissioner in 2018 when Mayor Byron Brown picked him to replace Daniel Derenda, who had resigned.

As commissioner, Lockwood oversaw the police department’s implementation of body-worn cameras and its accreditation through a state program that sets uniform standards for law enforcement.

The department came under national scrutiny last year when video showed Buffalo police in riot gear pushing a 75-year-old protester to the ground, knocking him unconscious.

The protester, Martin Gugino, spent about a month in the hospital with a fractured skull and brain injury. A grand jury declined to indict two officers on felony assault charges.

It wasn’t immediately known who would replace Lockwood.