When Michael Langsdorf joined the North County Police Cooperative in April after nearly two decades as an officer with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, it represented both a fresh start and a blast from the past for the 40-year-old.

With the North County unit, Langsdorf, who was newly engaged to be married, was also reunited with his St. Louis police department colleague and long-time friend Maj. Ron Martin.

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“I knew Mike for 20 years, we were partners [in the department] early on in our careers,” Martin said. “We rode the same [patrol] car together and walked the same beat together.”

Eventually, they were assigned different duties.

“I got transferred, he got transferred, but the bond between us was made,” Martin said.

The North County Police Cooperative, which stresses community policing and building bridges with residents and local groups – encouraging its officers, for instance, to participate in community events – seemed a perfect fit for Langsdorf.

“Our agency’s motto is ‘Community First,’” Martin said of the cooperative, which provides policing for seven cities. “We don’t want people to be afraid of the police. We ask our officers if they can donate three hours, four hours a month, for community activities – it’s strictly voluntary.”

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Langsdorf was the first one in the agency to raise his hand to volunteer at an alderwoman’s event, for which she needed helpers to barbecue and play ball with neighborhood kids.

“He would do anything for anyone,” Martin said of his friend. “That’s why he succeeded as a police officer.”

Langsdorf proved adept at getting information particularly pertinent to investigations, and that skill led to more challenging assignments –some undercover -- with the St. Louis police department’s specialized units. He also assisted on FBI investigations.

Yet, even with his vast experience, Langsdorf had the eagerness and enthusiasm for police work that is typically seen in younger cops, Martin noted.

“Mike still had that mentality,” he said. “There were those little things he would do – like come in on his time off – that sent a message to the younger guys on the squad” about commitment.

“The younger guys flocked to him, and even his supervisors leaned on him,” Martin said.

On June 23, Langsdorf responded to a call about a man who allegedly tried to cash a stolen check for $6,000 at a food store. On the scene, Langsdorf got into a struggle with the suspect, who officials identified as Bonette Meeks, a 26-year-old North Carolina man with a lengthy record of drug offenses. Meeks pulled a gun and struck Langsdorf, injuring him and causing him to fall.

Then Meeks stood over Langsdorf and shot him in the back of the head.

“It was a Sunday, I was with my fiancee,” Martin said. “My phone rang. I was told ‘Mike is shot, they’re taking him to the hospital.’ I didn’t even say goodbye. I jumped off the couch and ran out the door.”

He went to the scene, then headed to the hospital.

On the drive to the hospital, the chief called Martin.

“He told me Mike had expired,” Martin recalled.

I don’t think it’s ever been more dangerous than it is now to be a police officer. You don’t have a lot of support now. You have communities and elected officials who are against you. In some way, shape or form, we’ve been painted as the monster. We’re wearing a lot of hats – we have to a social worker, a dog catcher, an attorney, and also arrest a rapist, a cold-blooded killer. — Major Ron Martin, North County Police Cooperative in Missouri

“I don’t think it’s ever been more dangerous than it is now to be a police officer,” Martin said. “You don’t have a lot of support now. You have communities and elected officials who are against you. In some way, shape or form, we’ve been painted as the monster. We’re wearing a lot of hats – we have to be a social worker, a dog catcher, an attorney, and also arrest a rapist, a cold-blooded killer."

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Recently, he and his fiancee had dinner with Langsdorf’s parents.

“We shed tears,” he said. “Mike was executed in broad daylight in a store.”

And yet, Martin stressed, back in April, before his friend joined the agency, “If I had Mike sitting across from me and I had said ‘Mike, you’re going to get killed in the line of duty if you take this job,’ Mike still would have said ‘I want the job.’”