Killeen, Tx residents here are some things you needs to know about police chief candidate Keith Humphrey
Keith Humphrey’s tenure as Little Rock's police chief was one marked by lawsuits and scandal.
During his first year after becoming Little Rock’s 38th chief of police in April 2019, the Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police voted that they had no confidence in Humphrey, a resolution passed by nearly 84% if it's membership.
The former police chief had two investigations still open
against him when he announced his retirement in May 2022 (If a certified law enforcement officer voluntarily leaves employment during an on-going investigation they are subject to decertification).
Now it's time to get all the facts out to the good folks in Toledo about Humphrey so they won't let their city leadership make the same mistake the feckless Little Rock mayor did by hiring Humphrey.
Humphrey is a Killer
On June 23, 1999 Humphrey was a police officer in Arlington, TX and was working
off-duty, in plain clothes, at a Dillard's Department store in the Six Flags Mall.
Roy Don Bearden (W/M 41) was suspected of stealing an electric razor from a Sears store.
Humphrey who had been notified about the alleged theft from a Sears Loss Prevention Specialist, was told by a Dillard's employee a man was hiding in a rack of clothing in the Juniors Section.
Humphrey went to that part of the store and began yelling at Bearden. Bearden, surprised by the angry man in jeans and a t-shirt yelling at him, tried to get away from Humphrey. Humphrey attacked Bearden spraying him with pepper spray and used a expandable baton to strike Bearden's face causing him to bleed.
Bearden was able to flee and Humphrey and two Dillard's stock boys ran after him. Bearden ran to an escalator and began running down it with one stock boys right behind him.
Without regard to the safety of the stock boy, customers or other employees, Humphrey opened fire.
Two rounds hit the escalator and one round hit Bearden in the thigh. Bearden continued to go down the escalator and when he got to the bottom his pants fell down and he tripped.
As he was crawling away, holding on to his pants, Humphrey shot him in the back three times mortally wounding him.
When other Arlington cops arrived they found Humphrey on Bearden's back trying to handcuff him.
Bearden was subsequently transported to a hospital were he was DOA.
According to the medical examiners report, one gunshot entered Bearden's leg and exited. Three other gunshots entered Bearden's back and remained in his body.
According to the Arlington PD Internal Affairs report, after the shooting, Humphrey wanted to call his wife (no doubt to call an attorney). Humphrey was distraught out of breath, crying and repeatedly saying "I had no choice, I had to do it".
A police union attorney quickly arrived on the scene with Humphrey's wife and started the spin.
It's clear from reading that report the investigator's intent was to exonerate him, which it did.
Click here for the link to the Arlington Police Department's Internal Affairs Section Investigative Report concerning Humphrey killing Bearden over the beard trimmer.
Police officers committed misconduct in nearly 37% of exoneration cases since 1989, according to a recent report by the National Registry of Exonerations.
That report also referenced Humphrey's firearm qualification score. He had just squeaked by the last time he was at the range. Humphrey's accuracy with a firearm is a critical fact later on in his career.
Shortly after Humphrey killed Bearden over a stolen beard trimmer, he was promoted to the rank of Sargent.
Humphrey keeps a figurine on display in his office to commemorate his killing of Bearden.
Humphrey is a deadbeat
When Humphrey became the Little Rock police chief in 2019, his wife did not move to Little Rock with him. She stayed in their home in Norman, Oklahoma.
Humphrey moved into a small gated apartment complex in the trendy, gentrified South Main Street (SOMO) neighborhood and set up a bachelor pad.
The day Humphrey was introduced as the new Little Rock Police chief and in interviews with news media after he was hired he indicated that this was it for him and his family - Little Rock would be their home and his last job.
After a time, we found it odd that Humphrey stayed in that little bachelor apartment all by himself and that his wife and youngest daughter did not move to Little Rock. We knew she worked at the University of Oklahoma and continued to be employed there after her husband accepted the job as LRPD chief.
The fact that Humphrey and his wife did not live together in Little Rock after almost a year on the job was a topic of frequent conversation at LRPD and around the city. More on that later.
One day we happened to check on-line court records in Oklahoma to see if perhaps Mrs. Humphrey had filed for divorce and maybe that was why she had not joined her hubby in Little Rock.
We did not find a record of a divorce filing but what we did find was about to become a breaking story for us and one that would make national headlines.
We found that just before he was hired as our police chief, Humphrey had been sued over non payment of credit card debts totaling near $30k and that judgments had been entered against him in those lawsuits several months after he had been in Little Rock. You can read our breaking story by clicking here.
Cops that have financial problems are problematic for the department that employs them. They can be compromised (e.g., bribed) by organized crime or individuals seeking favors. In fact most police departments have policies that can result in a cop being fired over non payment of debts.
LRPD has such a policy.
Humphrey tried to spin this situation and say he "settled" the lawsuit and it was no big deal. Judgments are not entered in lawsuits if the parties agree on a settlement.
The only thing settled upon in these lawsuits where how much the monthly payments would be on the judgement amounts.
As the head of a city department that has the oversight and responsibility of millions of dollars, someone with personal financial problem like Humphrey is a liability.
Humphrey had become a divisive figure in city government in Little Rock over multiple issues at the police department during his first year on the job. And his problems kept growing until he gave up and ran away.
Humphrey is a scofflaw
Humphrey stated from the start that he wanted to be held accountable. That could not be further from the truth.
We had to file four lawsuits to get judges to order him to comply with open records laws. So did a dozen cops that worked under him. Two of his three assistant police chiefs filed lawsuits against him. Even a member of the Little Rock City Board of Directors filed a lawsuit against him.
Humphrey holds the distinction of being the most sued police chief in the history of Little Rock.
In several of these lawsuits contempt motions were filed and in one of those lawsuits he was found to be in contempt. The judge in that case said that Humphrey would have to surrender his own badge and gun if his orders were not followed.
LRPD could not fill vacancies fast enough from cops that quit to work for another agency or took early retirement to effectively patrol the city and protect citizens.
Humphrey has a poor moral character
Days before the scandal of Humphrey's financial problems came to light, one of his patrol cops caught him in a compromising and highly questionable situation.
Early in the morning of April 3, 2020, a LRPD cop was responding to a call about a death. That cop noticed a black Chevrolet Tahoe backed into a residence across the street from the location he had been dispatched.
He noticed a particular sticker on the front windshield of that SUV that he immediately recognized.
It was the same sticker that was on his patrol vehicle to get it washed from a company that had a contract with the city.
And out from the house came his boss, Chief Humphrey dressed in a sweatsuit, doing the walk of shame!
The home turned out to belong to a single woman that just so happened to be in the running for a position at the police department working directly under the chief dealing with the departments 80 million dollar budget. In fact Humphrey wanted her hired for the position.
We broke the story about her and problems with her job application and her own financial problems. You can read that story by clicking here.
The woman, who happened at the time to have a warrant out for her arrest) had provided false information on her application to the city for employment (she claimed to be an assistant vice president at a local college when she was actually an assistant to a VP; she claimed to have a driver's license when she did not - that was involved in the warrant for her arrest) and like her man Humphrey, she just had a judgment obtained against her for credit card debt too.
Needless to say the city did not give her the position.
Humphrey claimed he went over to her house before dawn to take a copy of a police report to her.
That explanation was not accepted by any reasonable person.
Many Black LRPD cops were surprised to find out that Humphrey was married. They had observed him acting like a single man at conferences prior to his selection as their chief.
When Humphrey selection was announced and when he was sworn in, he looked like someone's grandfather and sported a wedding ring.
Then a few week later when he moved into his bachelor pad in Little Rock, he changed his appearance and ditched the wedding ring.
When he made public appearances on weekends he dressed like a much younger person would dress in slashed and ripped jeans.
If you were to believe Humphrey, and we don't, that nothing was going on between them, a married man at a single woman's house before dawn looks bad. Add that his city issued ride was backed in for a quick departure and it looks really bad. Toss in that he said he was there to just give her a copy of a police report and it reeks.
Either way it reflects poorly on his character and his judgement.
In September 2021, a city of Little Rock Human Resources officer accused Humphrey of targeting and harassing cops, as well as racial discrimination and retaliation.
Women that worked for Humphrey began to come forward with sexual harassment allegation against him.
One woman claimed that Humphrey wanted her to "take one for the team" and have a relationship with our own Russ Racop to keep him too busy to investigate and write about him and his department.
The feckless Little Rock mayor refused to take any actions against his choice for police chief.
Humphrey is a liar and lacks credibility
Let's revisit the video from earlier. At the press conference announcing his hiring, Humphrey stated Little Rock was his last job ("this is it") and that he would not be leaving after a short time here.
Straight from his mouth: "I told the mayor he doesn't have to worry about my name coming across as a candidate for another department, I'm here as long as he will have me...If I give this man my word, that's all I have...and in a year or two from now I'm leaving, I've lost all credibility".
Humphrey also repeatedly claimed he was going to make Little Rock the safest city in Arkansas and in the United States. Under his watch, it actually became less safe and violent crimes, including homicide increased.
Humphrey claimed a serial killer was on the lose in Little Rock. Then refused to talk about that or give updates.
Was the serial killer a figment of the chief's imagination?
Did he make it up as a distraction to divert attention and news media coverage for his imploding administration?
That brings us to our next and final section.
Is Humphrey mentally fit to be a police officer or chief?
On New Years Eve 2021, Humphrey was assisting in patrols as a part of his departments copaganda program.
He rolled up on a situation were a female was standing her ground and defending herself against a violent assailant that had attacked her and her vehicle. This same violent attacker had pulled a gun and fired it threatening this woman in a previous incident.
Humphrey exited his vehicle and started shooting with any warning. His shots went wild striking a vehicle.
Humphrey
was placed on administrative leave and the Arkansas State Police began
an investigation as did the LRPD Internal Affairs Unit.
Humphrey resigned in May 2022 before those two investigations were completed. So much for his word.
In
July 2022, the Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney said he would not be
filing any charges. He was glad Humphrey was gone and wanted to move
on. The PA was retiring and was not interested in doing anything but
coasting until he was out of office.
Perhaps a movie will be made about this mess.
The LRPD Internal Investigation is still on-going at this time.
During his time in Little Rock Humphrey exhibited odd behavior.
Folks talked about his mood swings and temper.
We posted about that and asked if he was mentally unstable.
Humphrey's announcement of his retirement was a surprise to everyone. The city did not throw a retirement party for Humphrey, but some of his fervent supports did at a private venue. At that even, Humphrey reportedly told his folks that he had been extremely depressed and been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. No photographs or videos of that event were made public. For good reason.
But that diagnosis makes prefect sense to explain his behavior while here in Little Rock.
During his time in Little Rock Humphrey exhibited odd behavior.
Folks talked about his mood swings and temper.
We posted about that and asked if he was mentally unstable.
Folks talked about his mood swings and temper.
We posted about that and asked if he was mentally unstable.
Bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition. Humphrey didn't catch it here in Little Rock. He probably first exhibited symptoms in his 20's and you can see evidence of it throughout his career in law enforcement, especially here in Little Rock.
If he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder he needs to stay on medication and not be involved with law enforcement and has no business carrying a weapon.
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Fun Facts about Humphrey
Humphrey refers to himself as "SwaggyK".He had that on a license plate of a vehicle he owned.
Here are photos of that vehicle at LRPD HQ when he was supposed to be on leave for that New Years Eve shooting incident and not on LRPD property.
Humphrey has a problem with his feet.
After he left Little Rock Humphrey landed in Memphis, TN working as a loss prevention specialist at Target.
A video of him working there vent viral.
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