Commander Steve Asher enjoys enabling his colleagues in the Sparks Police Department to do their jobs and be proactive in their investigations and fighting crime.

After 28 years of climbing the ranks and finding his place in both administration and actively enforcing the law, he's about to take the ultimate step - leading 170 sworn and non-sworn Sparks Police employees to help do what's right for the community.

On Monday, Sparks City Manager Shaun Carey announced that Asher has been chosen for the position of Sparks Chief of Police.

"I'm pretty honored," Asher said. "I was born and raised in the city of Sparks, so it's a pretty unique set of circumstances. I'm a third-generation Sparks kid, my wife's fifth generation and it's the only law enforcement department I've worked at for 28 years now."

Asher replaces former chief John Dotson, who served in that capacity for nearly 16 years until he retired in August.

In his career with the police department, Asher has served as a reserve officer, patrol officer, detective, patrol sergeant, training and community affairs sergeant, detective sergeant, patrol lieutenant, internal affairs lieutenant, detective commander and most recently as patrol commander.

He said he always enjoyed his work as a detective in particular, working on recent high-profile cases such as the Holly Quick and Judy Calder murders.

"We had some hard-charging detectives and it was nice to be an administrator and clear the way for them to do their jobs," Asher said. "And I reaped the benefits because being leader of that division and giving them the tools and equipment (they needed), if you just do the day-to-day administration, it works out well."

The commander's career has prepared him well for this opportunity, he said, and he hopes to continue Dotson's reputation for strategically placing the department's employees in the right places to make their work more efficient.

"(Dotson) built a lot of good community partnerships and built a management team that is by far the best in the valley," Asher said. "We work hard with each other, we set egos aside and sometimes that's not very well heard of because we all have egos and we're driven by what our passion is. ... One thing I really want to do is take a look at the future in this department so setting this foundation is key."

In addition to managing people, Asher said he will keep an eye on the department's ever-present budgetary needs. He said he intends to continue fiscal responsibility while maintaining the level of customer service the Sparks community needs. The department is always seeking federal forms of funding, such as grants, to enable the department to carry out week-long patrols targeted toward patrolling for drunk driving or seat belt safety, he said.

He also intends to help oversee some of the city's biggest crime trends, which include vehicle burglaries, residential burglaries, commercial burglaries, grand theft autos and robberies.

Asher will receive his bachelor of business administration degree in homeland security from Northcentral University in Prescott, Ariz. this month. At 49, Asher said he knew he would need his degree at some point in his career, although in law enforcement, those who have a desire to become a police officer should have other dynamics as well.

Since Dotson left the position in August, the city has conducted a search for a new chief with careful consideration. Carey said many local entities the Sparks Police Department works with, as well as its stakeholders, wanted to keep the search within the department.

"We started with a profile of the police chief that we needed to serve the city in the future," Carey said. "We held an assessment center last week and took (the candidates') basic resumes and what we know about them and put them through exercises."

Asher and one other candidate applied for the job. Carey said they went through a partnership assessment to determine their reliance on other public safety officials and organizations, a traditional interview of 10 questions in front of a panel and a management value exercise to figure the candidates' direction on team work and leadership.

"It was a tough choice," Carey said, "but Mr. Asher represents a person who is capable of providing leadership, vision, supervision and management in the critical services (of the police department)."

Carey said he was touched by Asher's community involvement as a girls varsity soccer coach at Reed High School for more than 17 years and commitment at Sparks Christian Fellowship Church

"He's taken soccer teams to state championships and one of the things I like about Steve is that he's involved with his faith community and young people," he said.

Carey added that he was please with Asher's performance as a public relations officer while with the Sparks Police Department.

"I'm very pleased of his working with the media during some very trying times," Carey said.

Asher doesn't intend to be the behind-the-desk kind of chief. He enjoys going on motorcycles with some of the other officers and stays engaged with much of the hands-on work being in law enforcement requires. As such, he said, his work has been very rewarding over the years.

"The fingerprint I want to put on this department is in the area of proactive crime fighting," he said. "For so many years we've been reactive and you go to call to call to call to call, but you really don't make a difference. ...It's a philosophy of ComStat (computer statistics). It's a philosophy of proactive crime fighting. It's a philosophy of doing what's right. It's doing what's right for the community and the department and the citizens. That's the legacy I want to leave: fairness across the board...to work with everybody and put programs into place and give back to the community and reduce public fear."

Asher has been married to his wife, Kelly, for 21 years and has four children.

Asher's hiring will be ratified at the Nov. 17 Sparks City Council meeting, where he will receive his badge and take his oath of office.