NEWS > 08 January 2007

Article sourced from

DesMoinesRegister.com - Des Mo
08 January 2007

This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.

Cop takes on City Council

It's not the first time that Dave Murillo, an opinionated radio commentator who is also a Des Moines police officer, has irritated government officials by bluntly telling them how to do their jobs.

This time, the spat is in his hometown of Norwalk, population 8,300. Since firefighters there asked him to be their spokesman, Murillo has called for the ouster of most of Norwalk's City Council.

The target of Murillo's wrath is the decision to promote Police Chief Eddie Kuhl, with whom Murillo has had a long-standing feud, into a new public safety coordinator position.

Trouble flared two weeks ago when Kuhl refused Murillo's demands to do an intoxication test on a Norwalk councilman who had alcohol on his breath during a contentious debate over Kuhl's new job.

Kuhl, who believes the breath test requests were politically motivated harassment, filed a complaint with the Des Moines Police Department, questioning Murillo's ethics as a police officer.

"You can tell things are pretty out of whack - that's nothing any police officer races out to do," Kuhl said, referring to his complaint. "I don't want to inflame anything. But I thought what (Murillo) did was inappropriate."

The councilman, Curt Lankford, acknowledged that he had a bourbon and water with supper before the meeting, but said he was not impaired.

"While the odor was present, he very obviously was not intoxicated," Kuhl said. "This was Mr. Murillo's way to score political points or maybe to embarrass that council member."

Murillo spoke during last week's council meeting, slamming Kuhl for claiming in a letter to Des Moines Police Chief William McCarthy that Murillo frivolously tied up the 911 system and made a false report of a crime simply to embarrass a political opponent.

"There's no basis or foundation to any of it," Murillo said.

Friday, McCarthy said: "As so far as I can tell, (Murillo) has violated no department rules or regulations, no city policies and no state laws."

The Norwalk firefighters' association asked Murillo to act as their spokesman in expressing opposition to Kuhl's new job, which came with $16,000 in back pay and a raise that bumped his salary by $12,000, to $75,600.

They're so steamed that they're printing yard signs expressing a lack of confidence in Kuhl and Norwalk Mayor Scott Lorenzen. And there's talk about petitioning for a vote on a change in Norwalk's form of government, Murillo said.

"We need to get rid of everybody on the Norwalk City Council except for Pat Wahl," he said.

Last week, the mayor told Doug Richardson, president of the Norwalk firefighters' association, that he'd meet with firefighters and the fire chief together - but not with Murillo.

"I told him it was their unwillingness to work with us that forced us to get somebody like (Murillo)," said Richardson, who was fired after publicly protesting the public safety coordinator position, but was reinstated a week later.

A reputation for outspokenness

Murillo, host of "Cop Talk" at 7 a.m. Fridays on KIOA 93.3 FM and former alternative-newspaper columnist, is an outspoken government critic.

While his radio show is fairly tame, his columns earned a reputation for their brazen personal attacks and barroom language, although he maintains that most of the profanity was inserted by his editors.

Some of Murillo's fellow officers in Des Moines dislike his conservative rants and sometimes crude delivery, and view him as a cancer in the organization. Others, including some command staff, privately pat him on the back for championing public safety issues in a way that makes people listen.

Just because he's a renegade commentator, they said, doesn't mean he's a renegade cop.

Murillo guards his professional reputation closely - although his activism may have overshadowed his career. He figures he could have been a captain by now if he had shut up.

It's not just an affection for the microphone and the limelight that motivates Murillo, said Kelly Willis, a Des Moines police captain who has been friends with Murillo since their police academy days.

"If he's really fired up about a cause, there's no doubt his heart's in it," Willis said. "He fights because he vehemently believes in it."

And Murillo said he thinks Norwalk's taxpayers are being "fleeced."

"I didn't think it was going to be this big a deal to convince the City Council they'd made an error in judgment," he added.

Lankford said the debate has caused "raw nerves," but he feels no animosity toward Murillo.

"That's just Dave being Dave," he said.

Lankford said he has a hard time understanding why anyone thinks a public safety coordinator is a bad idea.

"Police and fire should be more coordinated," he said. "Ever since 9/11 that's all we're hearing."

The debate turned ugly during the Dec. 21 meeting, attendees said. This agitated Lankford, who pointed fingers at people in the audience and called names.

Murillo privately asked the police chief to do a breath test on Lankford, and later asked a Warren County dispatcher to send a sheriff's deputy.

"(Lankford) had a heavy odor of alcohol on his breath. It was so bad I reared my head back and waved my hand in front of my face," Murillo said. "If I'd been in the condition this elected official was in, Eddie Kuhl would've taken me to jail and he would've been a hero for it."

Kuhl told Murillo - and the Norwalk police officer contacted by the dispatcher - that he would take care of it.

"Mr. Murillo's demeanor and the way he presents himself is not someone you'd want to listen to," Kuhl said later. "He's confrontational, disrespectful, very abrasive and he talks down to people."

Bad blood started over parking ticket

The two men first butted heads in the winter of 2000 when Kuhl ticketed 22 vehicles, including Murillo's, for snow ordinance violations.

Murillo asked Kuhl to waive the fine - because he'd been tied up in Des Moines investigating a fatal fire and because there was "just a trace of snow on the ground." Kuhl declined. The ticket was later dismissed.

Kuhl believes Murillo has had a vendetta ever since. In fall 2001, Murillo ran for mayor of Norwalk against Jerry Starkweather, and "his intention was to can me," Kuhl said.

It was then-Mayor Starkweather who asked Kuhl to oversee both police and fire on a temporary basis; the council voted 4-1 in November to make it permanent.

Kuhl, a 34-year police officer and retired Army Reservist, has eight years experience as an emergency response coordinator, including three years overseeing four fire and five law enforcement agencies in Nebraska.

He said when it comes to the Norwalk fire department, he's simply an administrator.

"I have never, ever tried to command a fire call or tell firefighters what to do in a house fire," he said.

Kuhl said he hopes this dispute over his new job ends.

"We've got work to do and we're going to continue to move on and do it," he said.

In a separate interview, Murillo said he is speaking out in Norwalk as a private citizen. Murillo was not pleased that Kuhl dragged his police position into the feud, but said, "His complaint means absolutely nothing to my career."

Murillo said the fight will end when Kuhl gives up his raise and public safety coordinator title.

"This thing is far from over," Murillo said.

EiP Comments:

* We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper or periodical. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and we will remove the article. The articles republished on this site are provided for the purposes of research , private study, criticism , review, and the reporting of current events' We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper , periodical or other works. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and where necessary we will remove the work concerned.

Other related articles:

Article sourced from

DesMoinesRegister.com - Des Mo08 January 2007

Cop takes on City Council

EiP Comments:

DesMoinesRegister.com - Des Mo
08 January 2007