A former Kansas cop and school board member was charged last
week with attempting to sex a minor.
William Brian Duncan, 40, had been a police officer in Lansing,
Kansas. He was named Officer of the Year in 2008 and was a DARE officer, a
member of the school board, and the coordinator of Kansas' Safe Kids program.
(Safe Kids is a program devoted to teaching children to recognize dangerous
situations ... eek.) Duncan resigned from the police force and the school board two
months ago. What he did next, sadly, may explain his interest in kid-focused policing.
Duncan allegedly started chatting on Facebook with an
18-year-old man and told him that he was a college student writing a paper about
sexual orientation. The man got suspicious when Duncan asked him for names of
others to talk to and alerted the FBI Cyber Crime Task Force.
An FBI agent created a Facebook account as a 14-year-old boy
named Alex Jones and allegedly chatted with Duncan on multiple occasions. Kind
of surprising that Mr. Policeman 2008 didn't see that one coming from a mile
away, but he allegedly fell for it and suggested that they meet. The undercover
officer asked if he was going to bring protection, to which Duncan allegedly
responded, "What do we need that for?" Safe Kids coordinator, indeed!
So as the unprotected and unprepared Duncan pulled into the
predetermined meeting spot, police pulled him over.
If you're interested, Duncan's Facebook page is still up, and
he's still friends with Alex Jones -- who has a pretty inactive account for a 14-year-old boy. Duncan's profile says his interests include his
wife and family, as well as C.O.P.S. and A Walk to Remember. Curiously,
he is inspired by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.
Duncan's detention hearing is scheduled for January 5.
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