(Leitchfield, KY) – If you had asked him as a child if he would follow in his father’s footsteps as Leitchfield Police Chief, Bryan Langdon would have told you, “no.” It wasn’t until a high school teacher peaked his interest in becoming a first responder, according to Langdon, that he applied to be a fireman for the Leitchfield Fire Department immediately after turning 18-years-old.
“Well, in high school I had Mr. Jerry Schlosser as a teacher and he was on the fire department, and he was always talking about calls they would respond to, and it just got me interested. So, as soon as I turned 18 and was able to, I joined the fire department and then that peaked my interest in EMS because they respond jointly to a lot of calls,” explained Langdon, who went on to say that he decided to make the journey to the police academy as he found himself at an age he knew he needed to make a career decision, and police work offered retirement options after 20 years of service.
Chief Langdon said his father – Elmer Langdon – told him he would support whichever decision he made, but advised him, “…you need to make sure because it’s not for everybody.”
The highlight of his career as a first responder hasn’t always been the critical calls that he has responded to but it’s been the moments of interacting with the public, being able to encourage people who are having an off-day, mentor young children, or help children at the scene of a call understand why the officers are there and divert their attention away from the situation.
Chief Langdon says right now his department is seeing a rise in thefts cases, which he says stems from the drug crisis…a crisis he says will not turn around until parents get sober, and children are not raised in an environment where drug use is normal – calling the epidemic cyclical.
Congratulations to the K105 – Carter Harrell & Dale Woosley State Farm First Responder of the Week: Leitchfield Police Chief Bryan Langdon.
