Is Dallas Police Chief Kunkle on the way out?

A series of events at Dallas City Hall is leading me to believe that Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle may be on the way out and that his successor has already been chosen.

The latest in this series was triggered by the resignation of Assistant City Manager Charles Daniels and the naming of David Brown as his “interim” replacement. I believe City Manager Mary Suhm when she says Brown is serving in an “interim” capacity, but what’s to become of him when a permanent replacement for Daniels is found? How can Brown return to his previous position? How can he go from an assistant city manager back to No. 2 in the police department? I have this sneaking suspicion that shortly before or after Daniels’ permanent replacement is named, Kunkle will announce his resignation and Brown will be named to replace him.

It would be an excellent move. Nothing against Kunkle; he has been exactly what the department needed in the aftermath of Terrell Bolton. I considered Kunkle’s appointment a masterstroke from former City Manager Ted Benavides.

I got to know Brown when I was the executive director of the Dallas Northeast Chamber of Commerce and Brown was named to head up the Dallas Police Department’s Northeast Division. I met with him on several occasions to discuss the crime problems along the upper Skillman corridor and panhandling issues in Lakewood. He instituted changes and programs in the area that had immediate crime reducing impacts. Not only that, he was a perfect police ambassador, a sought-after speaker at various neighborhood townhall meetings. It was a loss for the Northeast, but a definite gain for the rest of the city, when Kunkle quickly promoted him to the department’s No. 2 spot. Brown would make a remarkable police chief.

But why get rid of Kunkle? There are a number of reasons. Benavides, a gentleman and a leader I personally admired having worked closely with him at City Hall, has long gone. A new team is in place at City Hall, a team put there by Ms. Suhm, Benavides’ successor. In fact, I believe the only two department heads at the city not appointed by Ms. Suhm are Kunkle and Jody Puckett of Dallas Water Utilities. Ms. Puckett, one of the finest administrators the city has ever known, isn’t going anywhere, however, except possibly to replace Jill Jordan, if and when she decides to leave the city (a decision that was probably delayed by the recent Trinity River Tollway vote; Ms. Jordan is, after all, the immediate supervisor of Rebecca Dugger, whose activities during the campaign were deservedly criticized by many. Someone high on the City Hall food chain would have had to fall on his or her sword if the referendum had passed, and Ms. Jordan, rightly or wrongly, was the likely candidate). So that leaves Kunkle as the one prominent department head not appointed by Ms. Suhm.

Do reasons exist however that warrant his departure? Three, perhaps.

First: The entire Sarah Dodd episode has been a sticky issue at City Hall. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Ms. Dodd. She was Channel 11’s primary City Hall reporter when I worked there and I regarded her as a hard-working, diligent, professional journalist. I never bought into the stories surrounding her resignation from the station. Thinking back on it in the context of recent events, I could picture the powers-that-be at City Hall telling the Kunkles “One of you has to go. We simply can’t have a situation in which our police chief, privy to a lot of inside information, is married to a reporter.” Ms. Dodd, being the consummate pro that she is, swallowed the pill.

Second: Crime statistics. According to a July Dallas Morning News story, “crime is about the same as it was last year when compared with the first six months of this year.” That’s simply not going to hack it. Kunkle has been given one primary directive: reduce crime. He hasn’t done it. Public safety is the current City Council’s top Priority and regardless of how the council feels about Mary Suhm now, you can bet future evaluations will put more emphasis on reducing crime statistics.

Third: This brings me back to my original question: How can David Brown go back to being No. 2 in the Dallas Police Department when he was essentially a No. 2 in all of city government? He can’t and he won’t. Perhaps he was told what the future has in store for him when he accepted the role of Daniels’ interim replacement.