One of Langley’s newest police officers is already gone. 

Luke Adkins, who was hired in May 2014 and officially started in early 2015, was hired away by the Arlington Police Department.

In his short time with the department, he was involved in several high-profile incidents. The most recent was being rear-ended in his city-issued police vehicle in mid-August. While waiting at a stop light on Highway 525, he was slammed into by a driver suspected of being intoxicated. Adkins was able to walk away from the crash.

In July 2014, Adkins apprehended an alleged thief who had climbed atop a Bayview building’s roof. Eventually the suspect came down and was arrested.

Langley will look for a replacement to round out its four-officer department.

Adkins is the third officer who has left the department since Chief Dave Marks took over in June 2014.

Langley paid for Adkins to attend the police academy, the cost of which was not immediately available by press time.

Losing officers to other, larger departments is nothing new, Marks said.

“This is what goes on in law enforcement,” he said Tuesday morning. “This is what we do to each other. I constantly have bigger agencies trying to recruit our officers.”

“I’m going to go steal somebody else’s officer,” he added.

The city does not make new officers or recruits sign contracts, Marks said, because he was advised they are not legally binding. People are allowed to leave and quit.

“I’d like to get a contract from people saying they’d stay for five years, but I’ve been told it’s not legally enforceable,” Marks said. “The other side of it is, if they don’t want to be here, I don’t want them to be here.”

Marks planned to meet with the Civil Service Commission, the citizen board that oversees police hirings, on Tuesday, after The Record went to press. They will start by reviewing the list of recent past applicants.