Jourdan Duncan (Center) received a bike from the Benicia Police Officers Association. Duncan lives in Vallejo and works at Pro-Form Laboratories in the Industrial Park, which he used to walk to every night following the breakdown of his car. (Photo courtesy of Benicia Police Department)

When the Benicia Police Department shared the news of a recent positive encounter with a young adult from Vallejo, they probably were not expecting it to get as much attention as it did.

In September, Cpl. Kirk Keffer was working a night shift with his K-9 unit, when he spotted a 19-year-old wearing all-dark clothing and walking down Industrial Way. After talking to him, he learned the young man was named Jourdan Duncan and he had just gotten off work at Pro Form Laboratories. Duncan lives near Hogan Middle School in Vallejo, and after his car broke down, he had been walking to and from work every night. Keffer offered to give Duncan a ride, the two talked about Duncan’s work ethic and desire to become a California Highway Patrol officer in the future, and he dropped him off at his home. After talking about the situation with Benicia Police Officers’ Association Vice President Edward Criado, the organization decided it would do something nice for Duncan. The officers purchased a bicycle from Wheels in Motion to cut Duncan’s travel time, and they surprised him with it at his workplace one night.

After the Benicia Police Department posted the story to its Facebook page, it spread from there. Facebook and Twitter users shared the story, others personally thanked the department and it was covered like mad in the media. Local outlets such as KTVU, the East Bay Times and the San Francisco Chronicle provided coverage of the story, but it didn’t stop there. It was also reported on in the Palm Beach Post, Epoch Times, The Washington Post and on CNN.com.

Keffer is grateful for the attention the department has gotten.

“The humanity that everyone is showing toward one another is very nice to see in such a hostile climate nowadays with police officers,” he said. “There are nice things being done.”

“We didn’t do this for any kind of recognition,” he added. “This was just supposed to be a kind act for Jourdan to recognize his hard work and dedication.”

Duncan has expressed gratitude for the gift, although with the winter season coming up— the Bay Area has experienced a few rainy days already— the BPOA determined that more could be done.

“Since we had such a strong outreach from the community that wanted to donate, we decided to open up a GoFundMe so that we could get him a car and hopefully have enough money for community college,” Keffer said.

Criado came up with the idea to start a crowdfunding campaign to buy an economical vehicle for Duncan to drive. The goal was to raise $5,000, but due to strong support from the community that objective was met in only a few days. BPOA then decided to raise the amount to $10,000. As of press time, the page has raised $9,071.

“It feels really good,” Keffer said. “It’s nice that the community recognizes his hard work and dedication. They want to pay it forward again. We’re getting donations from all over the country.”

The police department is also accepting checks, which can be addressed either to Duncan or to the BPOA. The Benicia Police Department is located at 200 East L St.
To donate to the GoFundMe page, visit https://www.gofundme.com/jourdanduncan.

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