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Reporters are not supposed to profess admiration for the people they cover.
Yet, I can think of few reporters who covered Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle from 2004 to 2010 who did not admire the man. Most of them would even admit it — then and now.
Kunkle, who died on Friday after a battle with Lewy body dementia, taught me a great deal in the 17 years I knew him. I first met him when I was a cub police reporter for The Dallas Morning News in 2006. Later, I was proud to call him a friend.
Chief David Kunkle was the gold standard of what a big (or small) city police chief — and what every public servant — should strive to be. He did not just throw around words like honesty, transparency, accountability. He lived them.
“The information does not belong to us,” he would say of police records and information. “It belongs to the public.”
It is hard to overstate how exceptionally rare that attitude was and is among major city police chiefs and government workers generally. I know this because I not only reported on Dallas City Hall, I also later worked there for Mayor Mike Rawlings.
But back in my reporting days, there was nothing that could take the wind out of a juicy Dallas police controversy like a Chief Kunkle press conference. In cases when officers were clearly in the wrong, Kunkle was fast to fess up publicly. He did not dance around the issue or hide behind ongoing investigations, he just acknowledged the truth.
Like the time it was revealed that Dallas police officers had issued citations to non-English speaking motorists for… not speaking English.
“I was, I guess, surprised and stunned that that would happen, particularly in the city of Dallas,” Kunkle said at a press conference during which he revealed the full scope of what had occurred.
The fact that his first allegiance was to the people of Dallas did not win him points with police union bosses.
“You go to work every day and if you make a mistake, you got a colonoscopy coming from the command staff,” then-Dallas Police Association President Glenn White told me in one of his signature rants.
The chief didn’t take it personally. He understood that everyone had a role to play -- the media, the unions, the politicians. To him, it came with the territory.
Kunkle was on the forefront of a new era of policing, one in which it was encouraged to show empathy toward people that not long before were considered criminals.
My first sit-down interview with Kunkle in 2007 was for a story about the department’s prostitution diversion program. It offered women who had a record of prostitution offenses the opportunity to get the help they needed.
Kunkle did not take credit for the program, instead granting me access to the veteran sergeant, Louis Felini, who was the real brainchild. To me, it was a testament to the Dallas Police Department culture under Kunkle that officers at all levels were allowed, even encouraged, to be innovative.
Most tributes to Kunkle will understandably note that he died of a horrific disease. It ravaged his brilliant mind and his iron man body.
We should also always remember that over nearly 40 years of service in Dallas, Grand Prairie and Arlington, David Kunkle never forgot who he served. He worked tirelessly for everyday people. He was a living symbol to his officers that their job is to serve you and me.
Scott Goldstein was a reporter for The Dallas Morning News from 2006-2014, covering Dallas police and City Hall. You can reach him at scott@sbgoldstein.com.
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