Little Rock Police Chief to Add City to Lawsuit Alleging Conspiracy

Aila Slisco

By Aila Slisco

Writer

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Little Rock, Arkansas Police Chief Keith Humphrey reportedly plans to add the city of Little Rock to his lawsuit alleging a conspiracy against efforts to reform the police.

Humphrey sued the Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police (LRFOP) and several individual police officers in September 2020, alleging that they were involved in an attempt to oust him over his pro-reform stance. At the time, Humphrey's lawyer Michael Laux insisted that it was "not a case against the City of Little Rock." However, Humphrey now intends to add the city to the suit "in the next week or so," according to an email obtained by local NBC affiliate KARK.

Although it is not clear when the city will be added to the suit, new parties can be added to the suit under the law until a September 10 deadline. A ruling on a motion to dismiss the suit, which was filed by the original defendants months earlier, is still pending. Multiple officers have also filed their own suits against Humphrey, with allegations including abuse of power, retaliation and sexual harassment.

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In addition to Humphrey maintaining that he is being targeted for his pro-reform stance, his lawsuit also alleged an anti-reform and possibly racist conspiracy stretching back decades. Humphrey, who is Black, specifically cited the LRFOP's treatment of Lawrence Johnson, who was sworn in as Little Rock's first Black reform-minded police chief in 2000.

Little Rock Police Chief Lawsuit Reform City

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The lawsuit argues that the LRFOP, consisting of mostly white members, had attempted to thwart Johnson's efforts at reforms by holding a no-confidence vote against him in February 2002. The LRFOP alleged that Johnson had discriminated against white officers and actively campaigned against him during his tenure, including purchasing billboards along state highways that read, "The Little Rock Police Department is in Need of New Leadership."

Humphrey was sworn in as Little Rock's police chief on March 21, 2019. He had been hired by Mayor Frank Scott, the city's first Black mayor. The suit alleges that Scott, who had campaigned on police reforms including changing Little Rock's "no knock" warrants policy, was targeted with "race-tinged smear(s)" in a Facebook post by the LRFOP.

Humphrey was attempting to implement some of Scott's reforms when the LRFOP called for a no-confidence vote against him months before he filed his lawsuit in 2020. While Humphrey insisted that his lawsuit had no racial element, he said that the LRFOP was treating him differently due to both his race and his policing policy, according to The Associated Press.

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