From studying pharmaceutical medicine to serving in the Army National Guard to becoming a police officer; CHS9 School Resource Officer Jeanie Duncan has tried many different careers. 

Born and raised in California, Duncan initially planned to study pharmaceuticals. But, she did not enjoy it and decided to try something new.

That is when she went to the Officer Candidate School program for the Army National Guard. She served for five years, then joined the Dallas Police Department prior to moving to the Coppell Police Department in 2017. 

At first, the career changes came with its complications.

“My parents weren’t thrilled because I was going along the medical pharmacy path, studying science in college and then jumped to a completely different field,” Duncan said. “But now I have been doing it for 17 years and they have accepted it.”

In the National Guard, Duncan worked in the reserves and endured physical and mental workouts to prepare for the police academy.

“They used to ‘smoke’ us, which is when you have to do a workout for everything you got wrong,” said Duncan. “I am pretty well versed about when it is going to happen, so it was really fun.”

During training Duncan relied on Bible verse Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

“When we are hammering out those push ups, our arms feel like they’re going to fall off, my legs feel like they’re going to fall off, and I have a headache from dehydration,” Duncan said. “I would just recite the verse over and over in my head so that I could get through just anything that comes my way.”

Even the change from Dallas Police Department to Coppell took some time for Duncan to adjust to.

CPD head of traffic control Sgt. Bill Camp, Duncan’s supervisor for six years, said because of Coppell’s smaller area and lower crime rates than Dallas, many newly transferred officers get used to doing all the parts of the process. 

“Dallas has a lot of specialized units that the police officers can call on, but in Coppell we do it ourselves,” Sgt. Camp said.

Duncan’s drive for success and personality help her connect to the students and faculty at CHS9.

CHS9 Counselor Victoria Meddaugh said her welcoming and open personality has built trust with students. 

“She gives candy to any student who says good morning to her and through even that small initiative, she’s been able to build a lot of relationships with the students and just get to know them,” Meddaugh said. 

Duncan said her life experiences have helped her be a better officer for CHS9.

“There’s something that’s just instinctual about it. You’ll hear other SROs say it too, but these are our kids,” Duncan said. “I want all of the kids here to succeed, or I want them to at least have the opportunity to, and I think that that’s one message that the kids are getting from me that I want to give them the opportunity to succeed if they are making bad choices.”

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