AUSTIN, Texas — Despite some opposition to this appointment, Austin City Council Thursday in a 9-2 vote confirmed Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk’s selection for the new chief of the Austin Police Department.

Chief Joseph Chacon, who has served as interim chief for several months following the retirement of Brian Manley, underwent fairly intense scrutiny from council members Thursday prior to the vote.

Chacon was the only internal candidate for the job and beat out candidates including the chief of the Wichita Police Department, an assistant chief with the Los Angeles Police Department and the deputy chief of the Atlanta Police Department.

READ: Chief Joseph Chacon’s biography

Among those opposed to Chacon’s appointment is the Austin NAACP, which in an interview with Axios said he’s unlikely to bring sufficient change to the department.

“They want business as usual. That’s what they’ve always wanted in Austin, Texas,” the NAACP’s Nelson Linder told Axios. “You promise people change, but you don’t do that.”

Chacon has been interim police chief since the retirement of former Chief Brian Manley amid a reckoning over racial injustice and use of force in law enforcement.

Chacon, who served as assistant chief in Austin for almost five years before being named interim chief, said he was “extremely excited and humbled” by the opportunity.

Manley, chosen to lead the department in 2018, had been at the center of ongoing criticism following a fatal police shooting in April 2020 of a man driving away from officers and controversial uses of force by officers during protests over the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody in Minneapolis in May 2020.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.