I realize that the Duggars are sort of like the Kardashian-Jenner clan at this point, in that you just want them all to STAHP. I understand. But I have two things to say about that. One, we’re about to go into a holiday and besides the Garner-Affleck stuff, it’s pretty slow this week. Two, I think it’s important to keep out eye on the Duggars. They’ve been attempting a “comeback” following the massive scandal of Josh Duggar’s previously escalating molestations of his sisters and it’s also worth remembering that TLC still hasn’t canceled 19 Kids and Counting. Seriously. My theory is that the Duggars are trying to stay relatively quiet for a few months and then TLC will announce that the show is back on the air in the fall, because after all it wasn’t like Josh Duggar was actually convicted of anything (because the statute of limitations had already run out).

Speaking of the cops investigating the Duggars, In Touch Weekly has another exclusive. Apparently, the same police force that has and is currently investigating the Duggars is also the same police force that works for the Duggars on the side.

In Touch magazine has exclusively learned that Tontitown, Arkansas, cops recently took off-duty paid jobs guarding the Duggars while the department has an open investigation into the family. Emails obtained exclusively by In Touch through a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that the interim police chief of Tontitown OKed the off-duty work.

Kate Gosselin’s longtime bodyguard Steve Neild — who’s now working for the Duggars — paid off-duty officers from the local force in Tontitown, Arkansas, $25 an hour to provide security at the Duggar family home on May 21, 2015, and Josh’s new home on May 20 and 21 when Josh returned home from Washington, D.C., after In Touch broke the story about his sexual molestation scandal and he resigned from the Family Research Council.

The new information raises the troubling prospect of a conflict of interest, as the Tontitown police and the Department of Human Services have an open investigation into the Duggars.

Dr. Paul Kroutter, head of the criminal justice department at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith and, retired police captain of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, told In Touch: “I would be hesitant to provide security service for a family that my agency’s been doing investigations on. I would want to avoid the appearance of any improprieties.”

In Touch broke the news weeks ago that the Duggars are currently under investigation by the Tontitown police and the DHS after obtaining a 911 call on May 27 when a DHS employee was refused entry to the Duggar home while attempting to check on the welfare of a minor.

In Touch then obtained a Tontitown PD document that reveals the investigation is ongoing. While Washington County gave In Touch its dispatch log, Tontitown did not, and instead redacted the document and listed the reason as, “This is a current active investigation.”

[From In Touch Weekly]

I don’t see how this isn’t a huge bureaucratic failure for the Tontitown police force. If this was Joe Blow Average Citizen, someone currently not under investigation, then sure, it wouldn’t be a problem – I don’t think the police officers should have to be denied the side-work. But as In Touch says, these are people who have been and are currently under investigation. It’s a huge conflict of interest for the police force. I mean, what is the off-duty cop supposed to do if he sees one of the Duggars doing something illegal? Yikes. Also: why do the Duggars need that kind of security? From what I’ve read, no one is really bothering them. If anything, their neighbors are going out of their way to protect the Duggars.

Photos courtesy of Duggars’ social media.