| Seven hundred seventy votes separated Mike Langland from assuming the role of sheriff of Newton County in 2004. The scuttlebutt around the town of Neosho at the time was that politics played a role in Langland's loss to Ken Copeland, the incumbent sheriff, Ron Doerge's personal favorite.
But Langland, pictured left, says he'll be back for a second go at the Republican nomination for sheriff in August 2008. He says he's not going to change much about the way he'll run his campaign. But some conjecture that he might have to take a page out of Jasper County Sheriff Archie Dunn's book, rally his supporters and run in the regular election on an independent ticket.
Right now he's re-introducing himself and announcing his intentions of running. He made the announcement formally last night at a gathering at the Best Western Big Spring Lodge in Neosho.
After the audience had seen pictures of war-torn Iraq, some on easels, some projected on a screen, they heard how Langland's assignment there, in his opinion, has made him a better candidate and how his experiences have re-defined his role in how he would defend the US Constitution and protect an individual's civil rights at home.
"I have been able to expand my law enforcement experience far beyond anything that I had before or could imagine," Langland said. "I have been able to utilize the education I received in the criminal justice field to help another culture and fledgling democratic society."
Many audience members were glad to see Mike Langland home safely. Although he has to return to Al Anbar Province in Iraq to complete his 2 1/2 year contract as an international police advisor, Langland is looking forward to his final return home. In spring 2008 he plans on jump starting his campaign to win the election for sheriff of Newton County.
One of 600 law enforcement personnel contracted by the US State Department to mentor an Iraqi police force at three levels--local, district and provincial, Langland said that the training he helped provide was not without challenges, not the least being that "the insurgents don't wear signs on their foreheads," making infiltration a prime concern. The challenge to be met, he said, was in getting the trust of the Iraqi public and defining what self-protection means, a concept completely alien to people who had functioned under dictatorial rule.
Even we might not realize what police training entails--more than how to fire a weapon. Langland recited a litany of responsibilities that he taught including recruiting, leadership training, everyday police procedures, as well as intelligence gathering and internal affairs.
Iraqi gate guards are photographed the day they were issued Glocks.
Langland spent the first 18 months of his 2 1/2 year stint in Al Anbar Province, the location of cities like Fallujah, Ramadi and Haditha. For over one million people in the province there now are 82 police stations, 1,000 roving police vehicles, and 16,000 policemen, he said. He'll be returning to the Qaim district before a short stint home in the winter and a final return in the spring at the end of his contract. That's when he plans to seriously address changes he says need to be made in the Newton County Sheriff's Department. Go Back | 
