Daryl Ascher was promoted to Major in January 2025 to lead the Operational Services & Community Outreach Division of the Riley County Police Department. He began his public service in 1995 as a Security Police Officer in the U.S. Air Force. After an honorable discharge in 1999, he served with the Kansas State Police Department before joining RCPD in 2001. He honed his community policing skills in patrol on the midnight shift in Aggieville.. In 2005, Ascher earned the first of his four RCPD Meritorious Service Ribbons for a complex criminal investigation and was named the VFW Officer of the Year for the State of Kansas.
Ascher became a detective in 2006, later joining the Special Investigations Unit, where he excelled in long-term drug investigations. He received his second Meritorious Service Ribbon in 2009 for his assistance in a multi-jurisdictional narcotics case. Ascher was promoted to sergeant in 2009 and transferred to the Patrol Division. As a sergeant, he received a third Meritorious Service Ribbon in 2013, along with the Kansas Association Chiefs of Police Gold Award for Exceptional Police Service for his leadership during a violent 911 call.
As Special Investigations Unit leader in 2014, Ascher developed RCPD’s Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force Officer position, strengthening the department’s fight against fentanyl and other narcotics. In 2016, he was promoted to lieutenant, and in 2018, he returned to patrol as watch commander. In 2020, Ascher earned his fourth Meritorious Service Ribbon for Operation Chicago Connection, a fentanyl trafficking investigation that received the Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Award. He was then chosen to serve as the RCPD's Internal Affairs Officer from 2023-2024.
Ascher has always been committed to furthering education and awareness of mental health issues and crisis response. He was instrumental in developing the Flint Hills Crisis Intervention Team and still serves as its coordinator. Ascher is a Pawnee Mental Health Task Force member and serves as a board member on the State of Kansas Crisis Intervention Team. His commitment to ongoing professional development is evident through his participation in the FBI-LEEDA trilogy courses, CIT International, and his graduation from the Northwest School of Police Staff & Command Class #562.