By Victor Omondi
Jay-Z and his Team Roc are filing a lawsuit against Kansas Police Department and the city after allegedly finding out that there has been a trend of police getting away with misconduct. The group is working to ensure there is transparency and police reform.
On Monday, September 12, Team Roc, which is the social justice arm of Roc Nation, filed a suit in a court in Wyandotte County to seek access to documents that showed complaints made previously against the Kansas City police.
Alex Spiro, Team Roc’s attorney, said that the group had sought to find records “pertaining to the complaints made against members of the Investigative Division.” However, the team claimed that the KCKPD did not provide sufficient information and that the department gave them documents without records “pertaining to any steps that the City of Kansas has taken in response to those complaints” they received.
“For decades, the KCKPD has failed to provide accountability for officer misconduct,” the lawsuit started. “And, thanks to the blue veil of silence and apparent failure to investigate serious allegations, little of it has come to light.”
The department has been called out several times for corruption, misconduct, and discrimination. One of the incidents involved a cop committing sex crimes with a minor and in another case, a Black female cop filed a suit against the department for discrimination.
The philanthropic team is legally allowed to get access to government documents and see how the police handled particular cases. “The government has attempted to block our access to those files, and so we’re suing to see what they don’t want us to see,” said the team.
According to the suit, exposing the documents will help unveil where the problem is with the department and any instances where there was a cover-up.
Nancy Chartrand, public information officer of the police department, sent a statement to ABC News saying, “KORA does not require the disclosure of personnel records and criminal investigation records, for example, without specific circumstances.”
However, Team Roc’s need to access all records will be helpful in finding justice, according to its petition.
