The City of Calhoun has selected a veteran Georgia law enforcement officer with more than three decades of experience to lead the Calhoun Police Department.

The Calhoun City Council voted last week to appoint Steve Kish as the city’s new police chief, filling a position the city has been working to permanently fill since the resignation of former Chief Tony Pyle earlier this summer.

Kish comes to Calhoun after most recently serving as Assistant Chief of the Dallas Police Department in Georgia, where his responsibilities included administration, patrol, criminal investigations, dispatch, special operations, internal affairs, policy development and securing grants.

Before joining Dallas, Kish served as Captain of Operations with the Acworth Police Department, overseeing patrol, investigations and special operations. While in Acworth, he established a Public Safety Liaison program and authored a successful $850,000 Violent Crime Reduction Grant.

A large portion of Kish’s career was spent with the Marietta Police Department, where he served for nearly three decades.

Kish worked through a number of assignments at Marietta, including uniform patrol, school resource and crime prevention duties and supervision of community outreach, gang task force and other operations. He also served in the department’s Office of Professional Standards, where his responsibilities included ensuring compliance with law enforcement accreditation standards. Kish eventually rose to the rank of major.

His work in Marietta also included helping implement a department-wide community policing model and developing and supervising a tactical team.

Kish is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy and a U.S. Army veteran.

The appointment comes after several months of transition at the Calhoun Police Department.

Former Chief Tony Pyle was placed on paid administrative leave in April while the city conducted an independent investigation into allegations concerning his leadership of the department. Lt. Col. Kenneth Carson was named interim chief during the investigation.

Pyle later resigned in June. At the conclusion of the city’s investigation, Calhoun City Attorney Brandon Bowen said the allegations investigated by the city were determined to be unsubstantiated or unfounded and the investigation was closed.

Following Pyle’s departure, the city formally advertised the police chief position in July. Calhoun sought applicants with extensive supervisory experience, including at least 10 years of progressively responsible senior-level supervisory service in a police department of comparable size or larger. Applications closed August 7.

That search concluded last week with the selection of Kish to lead the department.

His appointment brings to Calhoun a law enforcement administrator whose career has included patrol operations, investigations, community policing, tactical operations, internal affairs, officer development and departmental administration.