In Benicia, no good deed goes unnoticed. Just ask Cpl. Kirk Keffer of the Benicia Police Department, who— with the assistance of the Benicia Police Officers’ Association— helped buy a bicycle for a 19-year-old who was making a long trek to work each night.

How long? From Vallejo to Benicia’s Industrial Park, all on foot.

Jourdan Duncan is a Pro Form Laboratories employee whose car recently broke down. Rather than burdening his parents or his friends by asking for a ride every night, he opted to just walk from his home near Hogan Middle School to the laboratories on Industrial Way, which totals four hours in walking distance to and back.

Duncan had been making this trip since May, but a chance encounter with Keffer turned out to make a big difference.

One Saturday night at 11:30 p.m., Keffer was driving down Industrial Way, which he said tends to not have a lot of foot traffic on weekend nights, when he spotted Duncan walking and wearing all-dark clothing. He then decided to investigate.

“He seemed a little surprised and confused,” Keffer said. “I asked ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ He told me he just got off work.”

Duncan told Keffer that he worked at Pro-Form Laboratories and walked home to Vallejo, which he had done every night. Keffer then offered to give him a ride.

“I said, ‘Hold on for a second. I’m a K-9 unit, so I don’t usually have people in my car,’” he said.”I just cleared out my front seat, threw my stuff in the back and said ‘Hey, do you mind if I give you a ride home? That’s a long way from home, let me help you out.’ He said ‘Sure’ and jumped in.”

During the ride, Keffer talked to Duncan about his walks.

“There’s not a lot of 19-year-olds who do that or even have that work ethic to walk that far for that many miles,” he said.

Duncan also said that he really liked his job, and although he could get a job closer to home, he enjoys his work and his colleagues to the point that he does not mind walking approximately 17 miles every night to do his job. Additionally, he told Keffer that he would like to become a California Highway Patrol officer in the future.

Keffer dropped Duncan off at his home and then asked if he could take a picture for the department’s Facebook page for a post about an example of a positive police interaction with the community, to which Duncan agreed to.

Keffer told Edward Criado, the vice president of the Benicia Police Officers Association, about the interaction.

“I said ‘I had this really good interaction with this kid and it had a really strong imprint on me,’” he said. “You don’t meet a lot of kids who have a really good, strong work ethic, and I think we should do something for him.”

Keffer suggested buying him a bike, and Criado said the board would have to take a vote. Criado called an emergency meeting, and the board unanimously approved the purchase of a bike and helmet for Duncan. The board members went to Wheels in Motion to purchase a mountain bike and helmet, and owner Greg Andrada donated a lighting system which he personally installed.

Keffer then called Pro-Form Laboratories to ask what time Duncan got off work. After assuring that he was not in trouble, the company said that he would get off at 11:30, so Keffer and five other officers loaded up the bike and drove over to his place of employment. Duncan was initially concerned that he had done something wrong, but Keffer assured him that he was impressed with the interaction he had and presented him with the bike. Duncan was very happy but also very humble about it. Nonetheless, he gratefully accepted the gift.

This one gesture caught the attention of local media, where it was covered by KTVU, the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News and even as far away as the Palm Beach Post in Florida. Additionally, the department received an abundance of Facebook and Twitter posts thanking them for the action.

With so many negative attitudes toward police officers being enflamed by widely publicized incidents, Keffer was happy to see a positive story of police work getting so much attention.

“As I was telling Jourdan on the way home, there’s demons in every profession,” he said. “For some reason, people put a spotlight on the bad ones. There are bad ones, but there’s a lot of good work happening with police and the communities and that’s trying to build relationships. A lot of those stories don’t get out.”

“We had no idea it was going to go as viral as it did,” Keffer added. “I think it’s a good message to use to let them know that everybody supports hard work, and what you put out is what you get back. Jourdan exemplifies that.”