Posted on March 2, 2018 at 12:57 PM by Michael Churchill
It was standing room only amongst a sea of blue for the swearing-in ceremony of Rifle’s newest Police Officer, Bill Lang. City Clerk Kristy Christensen administered the oath of office at the February 7th Rifle City Council Meeting. Officer Lang’s wife, Susan, pinned on his new Rifle badge in front of their four children, Kaitelyn, Kimber, Kyle and Kolton and most of the current members of the Rifle Police Department.
Though new to Rifle, Officer Lang is hardly a rookie to law enforcement. “We are very fortunate that [Officer Lang] has already worked with every officer in this room,” stated Chief of Police Tommy Klein. “He has years of experience and is highly respected in the law enforcement community.”
Bill Lang began his career with the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office in 2005. He worked for a year in the jail before being sent to the police academy and transferred to patrol.
During his career at the Sheriff’s Department, he became a firearms instructor and a non-lethal weapons instructor. He also assisted in teaching active shooter response both at the Sheriff’s Department and at the academy level at the Colorado Mountain College Police Academy.
In 2014, Deputy Lang was assigned to the Garfield County Threat Assessment Group (TAG) as a gang investigator. While there, he was also assigned to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) as a federally credentialed task force officer as well as being deputized with the United States Marshals Violent Offender Task Force. The purpose of this group was locating and apprehending wanted fugitives. He returned to the patrol division in 2017 before deciding to make the move to Rifle.
Officer Lang had his first official day with the Rifle Police Department on Monday, February 12th. The City is fortunate to be gaining an officer with such impressive credentials. Especially one who lives by a motto which extols the virtues of police work: “People sleep peacefully in their beds at night because there are others standing by willing to protect them. We defend those who can’t or won’t defend themselves.”
Welcome to Rifle Officer Lang!
Media Contact: Kathy Pototsky 970-319-8288