In response to the ongoing social unrest over the 2014 police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the creation of a police accountability task force to improve police and community relations.

Emanuel made the announcement about the task force Tuesday morning following the political fallout that has emerged over the city's handling of McDonald's death. The major said the task force will review the system of accountability, police oversight and training in the Chicago police department.

"The shooting of Laquan McDonald requires more than just words," Emanuel said in a statement, reports Reuters.

"It requires that we act; that we take more concrete steps to prevent such abuses in the future, secure the safety and the rights of all Chicagoans, and build stronger bonds of trust between our police and the communities they're sworn to serve."

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the task force will consist of a five-member panel advised by Chicago native and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. It will be charged with recommending reforms aimed at improving "independent oversight of police misconduct" that will be presented to the mayor next year. The task force will also be charged with strengthening the system to identify and evaluate cops who have received multiple citizen complaints and establishing a set of standards for the release of videos of police-involved shootings and incidents.

The announcement comes just one week after officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder for fatally shooting McDonald 16 times. The 37-year-old white cop was released from jail Monday after posting bond on a $1.5 million bail.

Last week, the city released video footage of McDonald's shooting more than a year after the incident took place on Oct. 20, 2014. In the dash cam video, the African-American teen is seen walking in the middle of a two-way street, when multiple police cars drive toward him. Then, just six seconds after arriving on the scene, Van Dyke jumps out of his vehicle and open fires at McDonald, who was armed with a knife and had PCP in his system, according to a criminal complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

On Monday, federal authorities arrested a 21-year-old student at the University of Chicago for allegedly making threats to kill white people in retaliation for McDonald's death, reports USA Today.

The suspect, who was identified as Jabari Dean, has been charged with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce and could face five years behind bars if found guilty.

"This is my only warning. At 10AM Monday morning, I'm going to the campus quad of the University of Chicago. I will be armed with an M-4 carbine and two desert eagles, all fully loaded. I will execute approximately 16 white male students and or staff, which is the same number of time McDonald was killed," Dean allegedly wrote on a social media website, according to the criminal complaint.