When Kenny Hampton first arrived at The Herald in 2018, he certainly made an impression. Dressed in denim jeans and an accompanying jacket, his look was completed with a white cowboy hat, bearing an image of a scorpion. Taking a seat in front of a newspaper desk, he leaned a long, wooden stick against his chair.
“Get your pen ready,” he said. “I got a story for you.”
That statement perfectly describes Hampton from his personality to his career to his methods…it was quite a story.
And it’s a story that has circulated throughout the community over the last few days as Yazoo mourns the loss of the former police chief, who passed away last weekend from a heart attack at the age of 54.
The son of Ollie Hampton and Lee A. Hampton, the Yazoo City native made headlines across the state and even the nation with his unorthodox methods, his colorful language and his abundance of charisma.
But before he was making headlines for his law enforcement methods, he could be found on the sports pages of The Herald. A 1989 graduate of Yazoo City High School, he was a tennis star during his high school days.
Hampton joined the Armed Forces, serving with the Marines for 14 years as a diesel mechanic and recruiter. When he left the Marines in 2014, his journey with law enforcement began.
He said that serving others was always the only thing that truly interested him. That’s why he served as a Marine, and it’s what attracted him to law enforcement.
Soon after wrapping up his career with the Marines Hampton joined the Tchula Police Department. He was promoted from patrolman to police chief in 2015.
It was during his tenure as police chief in Tchula that Hampton’s colorful persona on social media began to form. Unlike most, he used social media tools to let the criminals know he was there to enforce law and order.
“I’m not your average Chief of Police,” he posted in one of his more infamous Facebook posts. “In my town, if you do the crime, be prepared to pay the fine or do the time. If you think you can run from me and get away with the crimes you’ve committed, YOU CAN’T! Your only way out is to turn yourself in OR go with options A and B. Option A: Move to the moon. Option B: Build you a nest in an Eagles A– and hope he never has to s–t!!”
It didn’t take long for media outlets to find Hampton. It wasn’t long before speaking engagements and even television programs came knocking.
Along with his methods, the general appearance of Hampton garnered attention. His shotgun was nicknamed Jezebel. He referred to himself as “the baddest alligator in the swamp.” He called wanted suspects “The Three Stooges,” among other names.
And he carried a long, wooden stick, much like a baseball bat. It was a gift from the Bufford Pusser Museum in Tennessee. Pusser was known for his virtual one-man war on criminal activities along the Mississippi–Tennessee state line. Pusser’s own life was portrayed in the 1973 vigilante justice film, Walking Tall.
“I’m proud of this,” he said, in a Clarion Ledger interview, holding the stick like a baseball bat. “I’ve always wanted one. Always loved Buford Pusser. I saw the movie about him ('Walking Tall') when I was about 5 years old, and it’s still my favorite movie. Maybe that’s one of the things that made me want to be in law enforcement. I respected the way he went about his business. I hear people compare me to him, but I’m not worthy of that.”
When Hampton arrived at The Yazoo Herald in 2018 for an interview, he insisted on the stick being in his photograph.
Hampton would return to his hometown of Yazoo City to join the police department as an officer.
In 2022, Hampton was named Yazoo City’s police chief. His first statement to The Herald following his hire was strictly business.
“I am excited about this opportunity,” he said. “Our community has had a lot of shootings, and our streets are filled with scooters and ATVs. I will get on top of those two things as soon as possible. The next month, those issues will be my concentrated efforts.”
By the next edition, Hampton was releasing details to two juvenile arrests, urging parents to consider that he was “now on the clock.”
Hampton was a regular at The Herald, eager to share arrest reports and even expose what he believed was corruption. But when his workday was over, he would head home to his wife, Tishaley. The couple were raising five children together.
Following his resignation from the Yazoo City Police Department, he returned as Tchula’s police chief. But he remained a regular fixture within the local community.
