Topeka ? The Kansas Highway Patrol has a new assistant superintendent, a veteran officer who’s been in charge of its field operations in 73 of the state’s 105 counties.

Patrol Superintendent Ernest Garcia says he’s appointed Maj. Alan Stoecklein to serve as the patrol’s No. 2 officer. Stoecklein also will be promoted to lieutenant colonel.

Stoecklein joined the patrol in 1980, after working five years for the Ulysses and Garden City police departments. His first posting for the patrol was in the western town of Lakin, although he served more than 20 years in positions in south-central Kansas.

In 2008, he became head of field operations for the patrol’s western region, which covers the western and central two-thirds of Kansas.