San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott is stepping down after an eight-year tenure at the SFPD, following months of rumors that Mayor Daniel Lurie might be looking to make a change at the top of the department.

Lurie himself made the announcement at a morning press conference at City Hall, as the Chronicle reports, claiming that Scott was leaving because of a "new opportunity" that had come up.

"I want to express my profound gratitude to the chief for his service to our city and I wish him and his family nothing but the best," Lurie said.

Lurie has not yet posted any statements about Scott's departure on social media.

"Serving as the chief of police for this great city for the past eight years has been one of the greatest honors of my life," Scott said in a prepared statement. "We accomplished what we set out to do and made the department better and helped this great city to become safer in the process."

Scott was first hired by Mayor Ed Lee in late 2016 following a period of volatility and police violence in the city, and he previously served as deputy chief of the LAPD. And the SFPD has been less scandal-ridden that it was under his predecessor, Greg Suhr.

Scott has seemed fairly adamant in recent months, when asked if he planned to leave, that he had no plans to. But either he saw the writing on the wall and went on a job hunt, or Lurie told him as much when he took office in January.

The departure announcement arrives, coincidentally or not, the day after the Board of Supervisors chastised the SFPD for bringing them a surprise $61 million bill for police overtime, that they begrudgingly voted to pay Tuesday. "I don’t think the city should ever be in a situation that requires this much overtime from our public safety agencies," said Supervisor Matt Dorsey, per Mission Local.

Per the Chronicle, Lurie said he would be working with Scott over "roughly the next six weeks" to "ensure a smooth transition," and he said that former SFPD commander Paul Yep, who was recently tapped by Lurie to be his public safety chief in City Hall, would serve as interim SFPD chief until Scott's successor is selected.

Supervisor Dorsey, who previously served as the SFPD's communications head, tweeted a statement saying, "It was among the great honors of my career to serve in SFPD under SFPD Chief Bill Scott's leadership — through Covid, George Floyd, the recall of a sitting D.A., and an unprecedented staffing crisis — and watch it emerge as a national model for 21st century police reform."

Stay tuned for when we find out wherever Scott has accepted a new role, which is apparently in another city.

Photo: Getty Images