A search for the Capitol Police Department’s No. 2 spot has ended, and department officials announced today that Inspector Dan Nichols has been chosen to serve as the force’s new assistant chief.

Nichols, who spent 16 years as the department’s public face before taking over the K-9 unit in 2002, currently runs the department’s Capitol Division.

It was rumored that Nichols might get the assistant chief post back in early December when the search process began just days after Chief Phillip Morse took over the department.

Nichols will replace current acting assistant chief Larry Thompson, who, in November, was beaten out by Morse in the search for the department’s top cop.

— John McArdle