Beatrice Police Chief to retire next summer

BEATRICE – The head of Beatrice Police will retire next summer after nearly three decades leading the department.

"It's been a journey, for sure, When I came, I was the youngest police chief in a first-class city at 36 years old...now that I going to leave it, I'll be the oldest police chief in a first-class city...it will be thirty years in August, so that's a long time. I've seen a lot of changes in law enforcement, seen a lot of changes in this job, a lot of changes in the department. Hopefully, I left it a better place than I found it."

Chief Bruce Lang announced his intention to retire next June, before Mayor Stan Wirth and the City Council Monday night. Lang said he made the announcement to enable enough time for the city to appoint a new chief.  Lang formerly served four years as a police officer in the U.S. Air Force and served 13 years with the LaVista Police Department where he became second-in-command.

He was appointed in 1992 by then-Beatrice Mayor Dave Maurstad, as Police Chief. He counts as one of the bright spots of his years, making sure officers are involved in the community and earn the respect of residents.

"We're not out here to see how many traffic tickets we can write...we're out here to make sure that the traffic flows safely. There's lots of different ways to go about doing that, and we hope that we've been fair and treated people with respect....and at the same time, try to keep the community safe."

In some areas of the country, with tensions high, police are not enjoying the support Lang says his officers have earned. He said that was the subject of a staff meeting and some discussion afterward, this week.

"One of the things we can offer new people who want to be police officers is a community that really likes its officers. We've got a guy...his mom was a former Los Angeles police officer...he's getting ready to start with us. She was concerned, because people don't like police. We have to tell him, it's not like that, here. If you need help on a street corner, there's no doubt in my mind, the first ten cars would stop and help you. If we've needed something, they've (the community) been right there....whether its to help purchase a dog or just to support our Special Olympics kids or whatever, that we've been involved in. The community has really been great....so that part of the job is not the challenge that it's been in other places."

One of the initiatives during Lang’s tenure has been a consolidation of emergency communications, though the Chief acknowledges that hasn’t happened, in his words, “at lightning speed”.  ""It is getting better and we hope that it benefits everybody...the City of Beatrice...the City of Crete. I think if you ask them, they would tell you that it's served them very well. As dispatch centers economically, just have to make changes for the safety of everybody, I think that this will just continue to change."

Lang’s wife Dawn is a retired registered nurse. Their oldest son lives in California, where there are two grandchildren….a middle son works in Sabetha, Kansas as pastor, and his youngest son works in Beatrice for a local company.

Lang says the couple plans to do some traveling and spending time with family.