Wednesday, January 20, 1999
Officers ordered to attend counseling
Sessions to help Cold Spring chief manage his anger
BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COLD SPRING — Cold Spring police officers are being ordered to a police psychologist to help their embattled chief with his anger management counseling.
The mandate was the last straw for one officer, Megan Murphy, who fought last month to get back to work after Chief Mike Piccirillo wanted her to go on disability because she is pregnant. She has resigned, calling the counseling a slap in the face.
“I just did not want any part of that,” she said Tuesday. “I think he's the one that needs counseling, not me. And I don't think, as a police officer, it looks good to be sent to counseling by your department.”
The officers were told to sign up, she said, for 30-minute sessions with Dr. James Daum, who specializes in counseling for police officers and is often used by the Cincinnati Police Division. Mayor Paul Weghorn described the sessions as “mediation,” Mrs. Murphy said, that would help the officers and the chief get along better.
“I think if they had a good, effective leader in there,” Mrs. Murphy said, “they shouldn't need any body to mediate between the chief and the officers.”
City Attorney Justin Verst said the city is setting up the counseling sessions only to try to help officers express their concerns about the department.
“I'm always in favor of talking,” he said. “We're trying to help resolve whatever concerns they have.”
Strife within the department dates back to last year, when Mrs. Murphy and other officers complained to city officials about Chief Piccirillo. They claimed he used foul language and would sometimes knock over filing cabinets when he was angry. The chief was asked to resign. He refused and was fired, but was later rehired.
Mrs. Murphy clashed with him again when she became pregnant late last year. The department's first and only female officer, she said she had an agreement with the chief that she would have light duty if she became pregnant. But when she did, he told her first that she would have to go on disability, then that she could take unpaid leave.
She got a lawyer, Phil Taliaferro, and that issue was resolved last month. She returned to the department, working in plain clothes and doing investigations. But she said the work environment remained hostile.
“I don't see it as giving up,” she said. “I don't see it as they've won. I've won when I'm happy and my family's happy. My family comes first.”
She starts a new job this week at an investment company and plans to be a stay-at-home mom after the baby is born in July. She also has 8-year-old twin boys.
Her husband, Kevin, is a police officer at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. She had been a police officer in Shelbyville, Ky., before joining the Cold Spring department 18 months ago.
She and Mr. Taliaferro are still negotiating with the city's insurance carrier for payment for the several weeks she spent off work.
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