Jay-Z's Team ROC and Midwest Innocence Project (MIP) have joined forces to file a lawsuit against Kansas City, Kansas, and its police department for failing to produce records regarding corruption and abuse within law enforcement.
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in Wyandotte County District Court, alleges the city, the police department and the government of Wyandotte County are violating the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) by not disclosing records relating to police corruption and abuse. In November 2023, Team ROC and MIP requested to see documents from the police department and the Unified Government's public records highlighting a large amount of corruption and misconduct committed by the Kansas City Kansa Police Department (KCKPD).
In addition, those documents would also show the efforts taken to hold perpetrators accountable and foster the necessary reforms to rebuild the trust the public has in law enforcement and the local criminal justice system. Kansas law states that the Unified Government is required to respond to KORA requests within three business days, and they've only provided basic information such as field manuals, training materials, and other departmental policies.
Within a year, the lawsuit alleges the KCKPD and Unified Government failed to provide those documents that list various complaints and investigations regarding current and former detectives and officers within the department, the suspicious deaths of individuals while in custody, and the FBI or KBI running investigations into the KCKPD's misconduct.
"We have to set a precedent that transparency and accountability are non-negotiable," Team ROC managing director Dania Diaz said in a statement. "For the past year, we've been pushing for documents from the government and have been continuously met with non-compliance. It's unacceptable – getting access to those materials is critical to exposing the corruption, reforming local policies, and helping the local community heal."
This lawsuit comes just ahead of the trial of former KCKPD detective Roger Golubski, who is facing federal charges for allegedly using his position to extort and rape Black women and teenagers for over three decades in Kansas City, Kansas. Golubski is also accused of threatening to fabricate criminal charges against his victims' family members if they rejected his sexual advances.
