For 27 years, Newport Police Department Captain Paul Kunkel helped define community-oriented policing in the city; now, he is retiring.
The department hired Kunkel on Nov. 16, 1998. The Newport Commission recognized Kunkel’s career with a shadowbox at the Dec. 15 meeting.
“A long time ago, Newport police had a huge influence on me,” Kunkel said Monday night. “I wanted to be one of them, and I got to be one of them. They’re awesome, and they’re all standing over there-I love you guys.”
Newport Police Chief Chris Fangman said that, toward the beginning of Kunkel’s career, and a lot of other officers’ careers, community-oriented policing became a very important topic.
“It was something a lot of departments would say they were doing and really didn’t have a lot of proof in the pudding,” Fangman said. “I’ve literally had some of my colleagues from other police departments reach out and ask, ‘How in the world are we so successful when dealing with the underserved community, the homeless population, anything we can do to help,’ and my immediate response is, ‘You guys have no chance to do what we do, because you don’t have a Paul Kunkel.’”
Fangman said the advice he gives to those departments is to get the most empathetic person that they work with and put them in that position, and just let them do what they do, which is what he said Kunkel has done. Fangman said Kunkel is the type of person who will get out of his personal car to help a person who was panhandling on the side of the highway.
Kunkel started his career in the Marine Corps. Throughout his career, he has obtained the rank of police officer, field training officer, patrol bike team member, honor guard supervisor, SWAT officer, corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, and he was a captain as the patrol commander, and then also into the community services division.
Kunkel is also responsible for “Newport Night Out,” a community event celebrating the relationship between the community and its first responders.
“He is someone who has really made a real impact on the lives of people throughout the community, and with the way that Paul was so tenacious about getting donations for Newport National Night Out for bicycles, it’s hard to imagine how many kids in Newport got their very first bike because of Captain Kunkel and so many other things that he’s done,” said Newport City Manager John Hayden.
Kunkel organized and oversaw the Newport Wheels on Monmouth car show. He has served as a Big Brother in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program at Newport Intermediate School. He is a military veteran liaison for the Campbell County courts. He organized walking and biking trails underneath I-471. He has also organized neighborhood walks and community cleanups, often collaborating with Northern Kentucky University students.
Kunkel has been awarded the Newport Police Medal of Distinguished Service and the Newport Police Ribbon for the 110% club.
“There will be no other Newport police officer as well-known as Captain Paul Kunkel,” Fangman said. “He puts himself out there more than anybody even knows how to do. It is incredible. What I see him involved with I don’t think there’s a day that goes by in his life he has not done something for the citizens and everybody in Newport.”