12/02/2026
Even if you aren’t from Wabaunsee county, I suggest following the Wabaunsee County Sheriff’s Department. Over the past few days I’ve read the messages being put out by this account, the testimony that is going to the State Legislature, and I could not be more impressed with the impact they are making.
Their firsthand experience, and willingness to speak up and share their knowledge is invaluable to the State of Kansas. The topic of child abuse is incredibly difficult to think about for anyone, let alone those who see it firsthand in their daily lives, yet they handle it so well, consistently delivering these powerful messages to people across our State. Thank you for all that you have accomplished, and in advance for all that you will accomplish Wabaunsee County Sheriff's Office.
Good Morning, I failed to meet the 5PM deadline last Friday to submit proponent testimony so that's on me, there's a 50/50 chance I'll be permitted to testify today & this is what I wrote:
09FEB26: Wabaunsee Sheriff Kirsch Testimony In Support of "Erin's Law" House Bill 2576
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the committee, my name is Eric Kirsch, elected Sheriff of Wabaunsee County Kansas and I will stand for questions.
I’m tired of being a last responder, mostly and especially with child crimes.
By the time we show up, it’s often already too late. When you look into a child’s eyes and an old broken person is staring back at you, if you do not break down, like a crack on the surface of an egg shell, you’re not really human at some deep, core level. We have no higher purpose than to protect our children.
It is also true that our children are not safe.
Predators are everywhere and if I am honest with myself after almost two decades doing this job, it is getting WORSE. Also there are specific EXTRA dangers in rural America, seeing that our great state is 98% rural, buckle up…we have blinders on and everyone is handing more out.
This will p**s off some people and I could not care less I’m not here to make any of you feel good. I get paid to deal with the REAL WORLD and actually HELP PEOPLE, not make them feel better and if you really help people you actually have to tell them all the truth and be brave and fight against the dangerous delusion we all live in called the “Just World Fallacy.”
The ‘just world fallacy’ is the inherent assumption that the world is fair and that people get what they deserve so bad things do not happen to good people and there are fundamentally bad people and good people and that’s it. It comforts people because it lets them believe that if they do the right things, nothing truly bad will happen to them or their families and there’s just one problem with it.
It's all BS garbage nonsense that belongs in an unmarked grave somewhere outside the city limits of the Land of Make Believe.
When someone is harmed, especially by abuse or violence, people who believe the world must be fair often assume the victim must have done something to cause it. Instead of focusing on the offender, they start questioning the victim. That leads to doubt, silence, and victims not being believed, so when a child is r***d, it explains (on some level) why an UNCOMFORTABLE NUMBER OF PEOPLE ask first “what did the child do to deserve it? Well, why was she at that party? Why was she drinking? Didn’t he know not to meet strangers from the internet? Why did he send someone n**e photos, he knows better…?”
People really say this stuff in the wake of unmitigated child s*x crime atrocities, in real life, directly to Sheriff’s…this is the Just World Fallacy, some of them have been educators, people I respect and they are not cruel nor evil, they simply do not know what they do not know.
It all sounds insane, yet it’s real as you are.
Doing nothing is dangerous insofar as public safety policy goes, especially with child safety. If leaders assume bad things only happen for a reason, they fail to protect innocent people. They underestimate risk, ignore warning signs, and delay action because admitting injustice means admitting the world is not always fair that is why we need good, strong and smart policy to protect kids from neutral, feeble, and indifferent adults who suck at their jobs, never should have ever been able to step foot in a classroom in the first place and are as far as I’m concerned a vicarious co-conspirator of child predators via weakness, a refusal to act, or both.
These individuals dishonor the noble efforts of all real educators in Kansas, those who have dedicated their lives to mentoring and cultivating young minds and preparing them for the bigger world they will inevitably inherit.
The truth is simple, all innocent people, including children, suffer terrible harm through no fault of their own and a just society, does not pretend the world is fair. It recognizes when it isn’t dammit and it acts to protect those who need it. We need to be strong and be brave again. Kids get hurt, I’m tired of being a last responder.
Every day in this state, children go to school believing they are safe. Parents send them there trusting that the adults in charge will notice when something is wrong. The issue is abuse is not seen early enough and a child does not have the words to explain what is happening and HB 2576 is a simple practical step to change that “Erin’s Law” ensures teachers receive annual training to recognize and report signs of child s*xual abuse, it provides age appropriate instruction so children understand boundaries, recognize danger, and know how to tell a trusted adult and overall, it gives Law Enforcement more alliances in the classroom and a greater ability to help these kids.
I worked some cases you would not believe, some of the worst ones have been in the schools when teachers were the perpetrators. I worked a case when a married couple, both teachers, were having s*x with a student. “Teachers would not do that” I thought to myself as I drove to work, turns out I was dead wrong and shortly thereafter learned more about the “Just World Fallacy.”
Every administrator, every supervisor, every adult placed in a position of trust has one first duty and that is to protect the children in their care. Not protect the reputation of the institution or a colleague or themselves, they exist to protect the child.
Courage is not optional if you want to claim to be the “good guy.”
We need to equip children with empowerment and knowledge upfront to guard against harm, promote reporting, promote awareness and lash it all together with deliberate actions, like this one.
Voting for this bill means fewer missed signs and fewer victims.
We rarely get the chance to prevent tragedy instead of responding to it. Have the guts to stand up now so thus I urge you to support HB 2576, for the safety of Kansas children, for the confidence of Kansas parents and for the simple reason that protecting children is our highest purpose yet we need to actually prove that now, these kids can’t afford for us to suck at our jobs, everything is on the line.
Thank you.
-Eric Kirsch, Sheriff, Wabaunsee County Kansas."
