Carson City Undersheriff Steve Albertsen announces his retirement

Carson City Undersheriff Steve Albertsen has announced his intention to retire at the end of this year. His appointed in January 2003 peaked a law enforcement career in Carson City and with the Nevada Department of Public Safety, culminating in 36 years of enforcement experience.

Albertsen began his career with the Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 7th, 1981, where he gained his initial Deputy Sheriff experience in Patrol and the Detectives Division. In June 1993, he moved over to the Department of Public Safety, Investigations Division, where he was assigned to regional narcotics task forces throughout Northern Nevada and to the Major Crimes Unit.

In November 2002, at the time, DPS Lieutenant Steve Albertsen was supervising units at the DPS Investigations Division, and we had worked together on many circumstances across the state. Comfortably with 20 years of service, he agreed to the position, providing that we continue our vision beyond a single term. Now at 15 years as the Undersheriff, the longest serving Carson City County Undersheriff, Steve Albertsen has chosen to move on into retirement.

My association with Albertsen began back in 1998 when I was with the Department of Parole and Probation. Intersecting working relationships between Parole and Probation and the regional narcotics units, I got a glimpse of Albertsen’s talents.

I witnessed his abilities to pull together multi-agency operations and care for the officers he supervised. Then in 2001, I moved over from Parole and Probation to the Investigations Division and became one of Albertsen’s officer underlings.

From there our relationship continued to grow. And, as I recall, as we set out across the state to assist agencies with their own challenges, Albertsen was one to never allow officers to hit the road without words of encouragement and personal safety. Albertsen’s genuine concern for the men and women of public safety was a character feature of impeccable prominence.

Seated at the helm as Undersheriff in January 2003, Steve Albertsen wrapped his arms around his new responsibilities. Immediately he began shifting our attention to open the doors of the Sheriff’s Office to be increasingly community oriented, implemented programs that were designed to provide individual recognition of employees and focused efforts that would enhance the training, experience, and tenure of the employees of the Sheriff’s Office.

Albertsen’s retirement is a bitter sweet pill to swallow. I have never met a greater advocate for the men and women of law enforcement, nor a more trusted and respected ally in building the strongest organization possible to serve this community.

This was possibly most evident late one night when a man exited his house shooting a gun into the air and then running back in. At the end, the suspect claimed he was in dire need of help, and he knew that if he shot his gun, the Undersheriff would respond. He didn’t mean any harm to anyone, he just needed help. Whether inside the department or out in the community, Undersheriff Steve Albertsen’s prominent stature has always been a signal of calm and care.

In retirement, Undersheriff Albertsen has expressed continued interest in being a part of the organization in a volunteer role. He has enjoyed this experiences with all of the volunteer units of the Sheriff’s Office, and is well known for his involvement in bringing essential resources to the organization through state and federal asset programs. He remains committed to the traditional roles of volunteerism, and will be quite comfortable balancing his on-going family and public safety efforts.

We, all of the staff and employees of the Carson City Sheriff’s Office, congratulate and wish Mr. Steve Albertsen all the best at his future endeavors. A celebration of his career is set for December 9th at El Charro Avitia at 5 p.m.