Police in Ferguson, Missouri, on Friday plan to release the name of the officer who shot an unarmed black teenager, according to media reports, as the clashes between police and protesters that have roiled the streets for nearly a week took a more peaceful turn.

Thomas Jackson, the Ferguson police chief, told ABC News that authorities would meet on Friday morning to figure out the best way to release the officer's name, which police have so far withheld.

"We're learning, and we're moving forward," Jackson said. "This all starts now to heal, to just make things better."

After nearly a week of angry confrontations between protesters and riot gear-clad local police, there was a marked shift to a calmer tone on Thursday after local forces were replaced by a small number of state police, led by a newly appointed black captain who mingled with the crowd.

In a tactical U-turn, Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson, appointed by Missouri's governor, Jay Nixon, and a handful of black officers without body armour walked among thousands of protesters filling the streets of the mostly black St. Louis suburb on Thursday, demanding justice for the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

The protests have cast a spotlight on racial tensions in greater St. Louis, where civil rights groups have complained in the past that police racially profiled blacks, arrested a disproportionate number of them and had racist hiring practices.

Two thirds of the town's population of 21,000 are black while 50 of its 53-strong police force are white.

Brown's shooting galvanized a national moment of silence and rallies in other U.S. cities.

Seeking to defuse the situation, U.S. President Barack Obama had called on police to respect peaceful demonstrations.

Police have pledged to do better but have also justified the tough tactics, saying they have responded to the threat of violence during protests.

There is little clarity on what occurred during Saturday's incident. Police have said that Brown struggled with the officer who shot and killed him. The officer involved in the shooting was injured during the incident and was treated in a hospital for swelling on the side of his face, they said.

But some witnesses have said that Brown held up his hands and was surrendering when he was shot several times in the head and chest.

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