Kemonte Hampton walked out of a gas station in Tulsa, Oklahoma and was told to get on the ground; he was being arrested for jaywalking. He complied, but was pushed over on his way down and handcuffed. In the arresting officer’s haste to get out of the car and apprehend Hampton, he forgot to put the squad car in park. Because of this, the police car’s front wheels ran over Hampton’s torso, causing him to cry out in pain.

“Y’all just ran me over, bro.”, Hampton murmured as officers continued with the arrest and put him in the car without checking for injuries or verbally acknowledging that he had ever been injured.

Pausing to look around at all of the responding officers, something stands out: all white, and mostly men, except for one female officer, while Hampton is a middle-aged Black man. This type of event is not exclusive to Tulsa, and with incidents of police brutality spanning all over the United States, a pressing question is raised: how do police officers’ backgrounds influence arrest escalation?

According to the 2020 Census, Tulsa’s population of white residents is about 6 times as large as the population of Black residents, so it goes without saying that the majority of the police force is also white. While this isn’t unusual, further data from their annual department review shows another interesting statistic. Of the 371 reported incidents involving use of force, 48% of those involved a Black arrestee and 84% involved a male arrestee. To note, in this report, use of force describes an arrest where the officer takes action beyond restraining a suspect, but also uses a weapon or inflicts bodily harm. In the United States, white officers make up about 70% of the overall police force, indicating that this disparity exists all over the country.

This trend has been noticed by many researchers, with a few studies investigating the question of what matters more in the outcome of an arrest: the demographics of the suspect or the demographics of the responding officer. This is a loaded question, taking into account a mix of personal viewpoints, department culture, and simple coincidences. A 2022 study found that in a city with a majority white and Hispanic police force, they tend to use force around the same amount, but they are each 75% more likely to use force if dealing with a suspect of a different race. 

With this data, it can be seen that the issue is not necessarily the race of the officer, but rather an issue of consistent misunderstanding and fear of communities that they don’t feel familiar with. Learning sensitivity to people of different cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds is not always a skill that comes up in police training, so work has to be done individually to combat implicit biases. When it comes to policing an area where the officer is a minority, it can be understood why they may feel out of place and a greater need to prove themselves and their ability to maintain order.

While many officers tend to start the job optimistic and ready to help, over time, many become jaded by the harsh realities of the job. However, as former FBI director James Comey suggests, “We [law enforcement] must resist the lazy shortcuts of cynicism and approach him [a suspect of color] with respect and dignity.” The need for authority cannot continue to come at the expense of suspects, as they have no control over who is policing them, not to mention their right to due process in every situation.

As Martin Luther King Jr. famously put it, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” However, this begs the question: how can we teach sensitivity and bias rejection on a wider scale? Some say that the best way to combat this issue is to be intentional with hiring more diverse candidates in a police force, but this comes with its own drawbacks. A 2019 report from Tulsa PD outlined their commitment to increasing racial and gender diversity within the department, and it seems that they are still moving forward with this mission as they have continued to release yearly equity reports. Whether this commitment has actually made a difference to the treatment of the civilian population is unclear.

Tulsa’s tumultuous history of racial violence has left many in the city weary of authority figures. One of the most infamous examples is the 1921 Race Massacre, during which white supremacists killed 26 Black citizens and injured hundreds more. During this, many residents felt as if the police force did little to de-escalate the violence until it was too late. As Police Chief Dennis Larson notes, building civilian trust is essential for police departments, but it is very easy to lose that credibility.

Andrea Headley, a professor at Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy, points out an interesting phenomenon; minority officers are sometimes more aggressive toward members of their own ethnic group than their non-minority counterparts. Whether this is caused by a callousness that comes from living in that community, or a feeling of needing to prove that they are not softer on their own people, this phenomenon is also very disheartening to civilians and furthers the divide between police officers and the community they serve. Being part of a community is not enough to combat internal bias, as a 2004 study has shown that both Black and white people tend to associate blackness with negative traits and whiteness with positive ones. Combating these feelings has to be an intentional effort for officers of all backgrounds.

As seen in the case of Kemonte Hampton, everything can be done properly on the part of the suspect, but implicit bias and fear can still get in the way of justice. While there is no cut and dry solution to eliminating overuse of force by officers, it is worth thinking about ways to implement increased sensitivity training and hold officers accountable when they show patterns of unjust conduct. While Tulsa has taken some steps forward with their yearly equality indicator and accountability reports, other promising changes have been implemented nationwide. With new body-camera mandates such as in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and New York City, more civilians are able to feel as though the police are now being held to a higher standard.

Moreover, new de-escalation tactics outlined by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) have proven to be effective in areas such as Louisville, Kentucky. Here, a study conducted by the University of Cincinnati has found that officers trained in the Integrated Communications, Assessment and Tactics (ICAT) methods defined by PERF saw a 28% decrease in arrests involving force and a 26% decrease in civilian injury during officer encounters. Some of the topics covered here include training on active listening, clear communication, mental health crisis recognition, as well as alternative methods to use of force such as creating distance from the suspect. Should these methods be implemented in other major cities in the U.S., it is possible that there could be a significant difference overall in civilian/officer relations and a reduction in police brutality.

Widespread use of PERF’s ICAT training is a good start, but acknowledging the importance of change is the true first step. As Chuck Wesler, executive director of PERF states, “While policing has changed dramatically in the last few decades, the way in which police recruits are trained has not fundamentally changed all that much.” The backbone of justice is equity, accountability, and fairness. While many will look towards prosecutors and judges to uphold these standards, the truth is that due process starts at arrest. The upholding of justice requires a commitment to these principles at every level of the legal system.