KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Roc Nation, the entertainment company founded by rapper Jay-Z, has filed a lawsuit against the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department (KCKPD) over alleged misconduct within the department.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday morning in Wyandotte County District Court, claims the department refused to provide documents to "Team Roc," a philanthropic division of Roc Nation.
Team Roc had requested KCKPD hand over documents related to complaints filed against the Investigative Division of the department, complaints or internal investigations concerning members of the department who have a documented history of engaging in the abuses, and documents related to policies and procedures relating to the supervision oversight of detectives.
The lawsuit accuses the department of failing "to provide accountability for officer misconduct" and says the documents requested will help "identify the scope of the problem, any potential evidence of a cover-up, and also the potential root causes of the problem." It also lists the case of former KCKPD police officer Nicholas Schafer, who was charged with aggravated indecent liberties with a child younger than 14 in 2020, among other instances.
On Aug. 15, Team Roc filed public records requests through the Kansas Open Records Act with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas. However, on Aug. 27, the city refused to produce three of those requests, agreed to produce four others and said it had no records of two other requests. Team Roc hopes to obtain the records it didn't receive in the request through the lawsuit.
In a statement, KCKPD said, in part, "(The Kansas Open Records Act) does not require the disclosure of personnel records and criminal investigation records, for example, without specific circumstances. However, once the petition has been thoroughly reviewed, the Unified Government will follow up by filing a response."
"We are pleased that Jay-Z and Team Roc are delving into the long and troubling history of the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department," Lamonte and Rose McIntyre said in a statement through their attorneys. "Their lawsuit seeking public records and information is in the public's interest and should help bring much-needed transparency and accountability."
The McIntyres have sued KCKPD, alleging former detective Capt. Roger Golubski targeted Lamonte in a double-murder case after Rose rebuffed his sexual advances.
Golubski was the subject of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation investigation related to the McIntyre case in 2017, and legislators called for additional investigation in 2020.
Olin "Pete" Coones was exonerated and released from prison in 2020 after Wyandotte County prosecutors allege KCKPD botched the investigation.
This story was originally published by David Medina on Scripps station KSHB in Kansas City, Missouri.
