Team Roc, the social justice arm of rapper Jay-Z's Roc Nation, renewed its calls Tuesday for an intense investigation into alleged corruption in the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department, saying there is no excuse to justify the Justice Department's "silence."
In a letter taken out as an advertisement in The New York Times, the organization, along with the Midwest Innocence Project based in Kansas City, said the Justice Department has not responded to a Dec. 20 letter that urged the agency to open a pattern-or-practice investigation into the force.
"We are committed to holding these so-called public servants accountable for alleged rampant acts of brutality and exploitation and request a meeting with the DOJ to discuss our findings — findings we hope will move you to act," the groups wrote. "These allegations require the urgency that the Kansas City, Kansas community deserves."
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Last year, a DOJ spokeswoman confirmed "receipt for requests for investigations," but declined to comment further.
The police department also did not immediately respond Tuesday.
In October, Team Roc and the Midwest Innocence Project took out a full-page advertisement in The Washington Post calling on the Justice Department to investigate alleged misconduct by Kansas City, Kansas, police officers. That letter came after Team Roc took legal action in Wyandotte County seeking the release of investigative files, personnel records and officer misconduct allegations.
Team Roc contends that Kansas City, Kansas, officers have abused their authority, fabricated witness statements, planted evidence, concealed officer misconduct and solicited sexual favors from victims and witnesses. They have pointed to former detective Roger Golubski, who has been accused of using his badge to rape vulnerable Black women and was involved in the wrongful conviction that sent Lamonte McIntyre to prison for 23 years for murders he did not commit.
In their latest letter, the groups said there have been vast claims of coercion, rape and murder committed or facilitated by KCKPD officers. The Justice Department's inaction, they wrote, tells targeted minority communities "that their lives do not matter."
Eight FBI investigations in the 1990s showed evidence of "depraved acts by the police department," according to the letter. The FBI recommended convicting several police officers at the time, it said.
"The DOJ's inaction since the FBI's warning 30 years ago proves that the DOJ has harbored the practices and patterns of crimes and discrimination committed by KCKPD," the groups wrote.
In a video released Tuesday along with the letter, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, director of the Midwest Innocence Project, said a police detective with the department for more than 30 years raped Black women. Yet he still draws his pension and is a free man, she noted. She appeared to be referring to Golubski.
"And we know there are at least 20 dead women who had some sort of relationship," she said in the video, which featured some of the women's loved ones.
Rojo Bushnell said in one incident, another officer walked in on the detective sexually assaulting a woman at the police department, saw what was happening and then closed the door.
"This was not a secret," she said. "It's not just him and his partners ... it is an entire system. It is impossible to explain the depths and how much the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department had to cover for him."
In December, Police Chief Karl Oakman told The Star he does not support a Justice Department investigation into the department. Such investigations, he said, tend to focus on current issues. He added that in his first six months on the job, he had not seen problems within the force that have been the repeated subject of news stories.
"I think a DOJ investigation would do far more harm than good," Oakman said.
But Tyrone Garner, the new mayor and CEO of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, has said he supports a federal investigation into the department. Garner worked for KCKPD for 32 years, retiring as a deputy police chief in 2019.
Throughout the mayoral campaign last year, Garner faced questions about if he knew about corruption within the force, including Golubski — and, if he did, why he did not speak up. Garner has continuously denied he knew of any wrongdoing.
In October, news broke that federal prosecutors in Kansas had initiated a criminal grand jury investigation into Golubski, the former detective accused of "some of the grossest acts of corruption a police officer can commit," as one lawyer put it during a deposition. At the time, the police department said it had been responding to subpoenas from the FBI about Golubski since 2019.
In court records, Golubski has denied the allegations.
The news of the investigation came after years of reporting by The Star on accusations against Golubski. That has included columns by Melinda Henneberger, opinion editor and columnist for The Star.
On Tuesday, KCUR reported that the grand jury has requested a wide range of records from the police department, including more than two decades worth of homicide cases. It has also asked for records about other police officers, according to KCUR.
Jay-Z's Roc Nation has invested in probing criminal justice issues within Kansas City, Kansas. Last year, the group facilitated donations totaling $1 million for the Midwest Innocence Project to investigate wrongful convictions in Wyandotte County.
