Tulsa Police Major: Statistically, Police Aren’t Shooting Black People As Often As We “Probably Ought To Be”

Tulsa Public Radio reports:

Discussing nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, a white Tulsa Police Department major said Monday systemic racism in policing “just doesn’t exist.” Speaking to talk radio host Pat Campbell on his podcast, TPD Maj. Travis Yates also suggested that, according to his interpretation of crime data, police should actually be shooting black Americans more frequently.

“You get this meme of, ‘Blacks are shot two times, two and a half times more,’ and everybody just goes, ‘Oh, yeah,'” Yates said. “They’re not making sense here. You have to come into contact with law enforcement for that to occur. All of the research says we’re shooting African-Americans about 24% less than we probably ought to be, based on the crimes being committed.” Without evidence, Yates alleged that journalists have financial interests in lying about policing.

Read the full article. In the 2018 clip below, Yates makes the same argument. Yates is the founder of a police training outfit called Courageous Leadership.

In a jaw-dropping podcast interview, a Tulsa police major said cops are shooting fewer black people than they should be https://t.co/9UL3agJQdk

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) June 10, 2020

Shockingly, recent studies have found systemic racial bias in the Tulsa PD. https://t.co/5BxEfYbW8I

— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) June 10, 2020