BROOKINGS (9-28-26) — Local community group CLEAR Partners hosted a Brookings County Sheriff Candidate Forum this weekend. The two candidates spoke briefly on a series of issues facing law enforcement — including whether or not the sheriff’s office would assist Operation Prairie Thunder in ICE-related immigration enforcement patrols.
In January, Gov. Larry Rhoden had Operation Prairie Thunder conduct a two-day saturation patrol in Brookings. The City of Brookings had issued a press release in December stating they “will not be participating in these operations.” The patrols in Brookings took place on January 6-7 and resulted in 6 people being taken into custody on immigration violations.
Sheriff’s candidate Manny Langstraat is a Patrol Sergeant with the Brookings County Sheriff’s Office… “If something happens where an immigration officer is, there’s a safety issue taking place and they do need help, I’m obviously going to be for making sure they get help. But we’re not for furthering the goal of what they’re doing. They have their own function at the federal government. That doesn’t have anything to do with the sheriff’s office here at the county, so that’s not something I’d be willing to participate with.”
Sheriff’s candidate Dave Biteler is Assistant Sheriff with the Brookings County Sheriff’s Office… “The jail of course is also used during those operations, and that is upheld by statute. We have to help them in that process there. But as far as resources, and anything going out and helping — public safety and the safety of the officers would be what Brookings County would give to that.”
The candidates were also asked about racial profiling — specifically their opinions on the Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo to allow federal agents to consider ethnicity as an element of reasonable suspicion when determining whether or not to detain people.
Biteler said he’s opposed to racial profiling… “Profiling is not a part of it and should never ever be a part of it. And as far as Brookings County, I don’t know of any cases — have heard of any cases where it has come through the courts where racial profiling was used, and I would hope not.”
Langstraat agreed… “Profiling is just not an acceptable practice. It’s hard to go beyond that, because it just violates the culture we have at the sheriff’s office now, and it’s not something that I could see either one of us ever partaking with.”
The candidates were also asked about Flock cameras — AI-powered devices that capture and analyze vehicle data on public roadways. The Brookings Police Department currently operates seven Flock cameras at a cost of $21 thousand a year. The Brookings County Sheriff’s Office does not use Flock cameras.
Langstraat is opposed to the cameras … “If my kid was kidnapped and a camera could find that offender, that’d be a great thing. But the constant surveillance is an issue. Again it doesn’t fit with the mission of the sheriff’s office, and so it’s not something I’d be interested in in the county.”
Biteler also agreed… “Look at the data that is created during with these Flock cameras and the oversight on it now — there is hardly any oversight whatsoever with the data being collected, and where it’s going and who is using it. We need some laws put down. There’s some regulation that needs to be done.”
Election day is November 3.
— Brookings Radio News
