The Capitol Police Board has appointed Assistant Chief Steven A. Sund as the acting chief of the U.S. Capitol Police.

Sund takes over on Saturday for Chief Matthew Verderosa who announced his retirement after a 34-year career in law enforcement and three as chief of USCP. The order promoting Sund to chief was signed Friday by the members of the board.

A copy of the order was obtained by CQ Roll Call. 

“It has been a privilege to serve the Congressional community and the Department as the Assistant Chief and Chief of Operations. I am honored that the Capitol Police Board asked me to serve as Acting Chief of Police,” Sund said in an emailed statement to CQ Roll Call. “I look forward to our Department’s continued success in our mission to protect and serve the Congress, the U.S. Capitol, and the American people.”

[Capitol Police Chief Matthew Verderosa to retire May 31]

Sund has been with the U.S. Capitol Police since January 2017. In his role as chief of operations and assistant police chief, he offered operational support and managed several bureaus within the department.

The Capitol Police union head said the group looks forward to working with the acting chief.

“I endorsed Chief Sund early on,” said U.S. Capitol Police Labor Committee Chairman Gus Papathanasiou in an email to CQ Roll Call. “I think he’s a good choice. He’s been here a few years now and I’m hoping we can continue to build a good working relationship.”

Sund began his policing career in 1990 as a Metropolitan Police Department patrol officer in Washington, D.C.’s Sixth District. He went on to the ranks of sergeant and lieutenant.

As a lieutenant in MPD’s special operations division, Sund planned major events, including presidential inaugurations and state funerals. He was promoted again in 2011 to be the commander of the department’s division of special operations.

He was the on-scene incident commander during the 2009 shooting at the National Holocaust Museum, the 2012 shooting at the Family Research Council and the 2013 active shooter incident at the Washington Navy Yard.

Sund retired from MPD after 25 years, and he went on to become director of a nonprofit science, technology and strategy firm, before he was hired by USCP as its assistant chief and chief of operations. 

The acting chief has undergraduate and master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins University and a second master’s from the Naval Postgraduate School, where he specialized in homeland security.