After the Flood

Best then to start at the beginning. We heard of this story the way we hear of many, through a source on the inside. A cop the Observer has relied on in the past, whose information has always been accurate, told us come October 1, police officers’ activities would be monitored. If those activities were found to be lower than the average of the sector in which the officer worked, the officer could be punished for it. The source said a document detailing the move had already been issued to the force.

The Observer received the five-page document from this source titled “Dallas Police Department Patrol Officer Performance Evaluation Planning Form.” It said exactly what the source told us. Its first sentence began “Effective October 1, 2005.” The Observer called another source on the inside, who confirmed that the document was legit and that it came from Kunkle’s office. The Observer then called Glenn White, head of the Dallas Police Association, the largest union within DPD. White also said the document was legit and that it came from Kunkle’s office and then blasted Kunkle for issuing the policy.

Steve Satterwhite

An evacuee rests among donated clothes at Reunion Arena.

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The Observer tried last Wednesday and again last Thursday to reach Kunkle through DPD’s media relations department. Kunkle didn’t return the calls; he says he never got the message that the Observer was trying to contact him. The Observer, based on three independent sources and the document itself, ran the story.

Kunkle told the Observer after the story that the plan outlined in the draft document isn’t policy yet and may never be policy, despite the October 1 start date. He said the document came from a group of lieutenants charged with increasing productivity and lowering crime. Kunkle himself hadn’t seen the document and hadn’t signed off on it, though the document has been widely distributed. --Paul Kix