Charles Ramsey, a former police chief in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., will serve as a senior advisor to the Chicago Police Department, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office announced Sunday.

Ramsey, who also served in Chicago's police department for three decades and was deputy superintendent from 1994 to 1998, will advise the CPD and the Emanuel administration during the U.S. Justice Department's "pattern and practice" probe into the CPD, which was launched in December after the release of the Laquan McDonald shooting video. Ramsey will be paid $350 an hour as part of the consulting job. 

"Chicago is at a defining moment, and I believe that Mayor Emanuel and the Chicago Police Department are committed to meet the challenge," Ramsey said in a statement. "The situation in Chicago is not unlike many in cities across the country, but the people of Chicago should know that their leaders are working hard to restore trust where it has been lost." 

Ramsey was police chief in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. during U.S. Justice Department investigations into those police departments. He has not applied to become the Chicago police superintendent.

"He's both from Chicago so he knows it, knows its culture, knows the people, so there's a trust factor, that's a great thing," Emanuel said. "He has gone through in D.C. and in Philadelphia the reforms that we're now starting in our process."