KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Officials in Kansas City, Kansas, outlined Monday the next steps in their review of the past of former KCKPD Det. Roger Golubski.
Mark Dupree, the Wyandotte County district attorney, says his office hopes to start on Dec. 1, looking through every single case Golubski touched, which could take two years or longer.
The Kansas City, Kansas, police department is also launching its own investigation into Golubski's impact on criminal cases.
"Golubski's tenure in law enforcement was a moral, ethical, and legal failure," KCKPD Chief Karl Oakman said at Monday's news conference.
Lamonte McIntyre's release from prison after serving time for a double murder he didn't commit pointed the spotlight at Golubski - the man many say is behind botched cases, false convictions, and widespread corruption in KCK.
Oakman announced he'll put together a review team of detectives and commanders to review the 155 cases Golubski investigated as detective from 1988 to 2002.
"I will be handpicking these individuals and make sure there's no conflict of interest or even the perception of conflict of interest," Oakman said.
The review team will look at investigative techniques used, if the evidence actually points to the named suspect or person convicted in the case, and how suspects were identified.
Oakman said the team will look at Golubski's patterns and how he worked the cases so "that officers such as Golubski will never have the opportunity to exist in the future."
Last week, the Unified Government of Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County's Board of Commissioners agreed to use $1.7 million to digitize case files within the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department.
Dupree hopes to use the $1.7 million dollars to digitize all of KCKPD's old files, which will make it easier to find all of Golubski's cases from 1975 to 2010, his entire tenure at the department.
Dupree will utilize his office's conviction integrity unit to do the review.
"Any case that has his name on it," Dupree said. "This software will allow us to see it and review it upon it being scanned in."
The Wyandotte County commission is set to approve the funding in a special session on Tuesday afternoon.
If they find issues in any of these cases, the DA's office and Chief Oakman will collaborate with their cold case unit and the FBI.
Dupree said his office would also include a review of Golubski's time with the Edwardsville, Kansas, police department, where Golubski worked after leaving the KCK police department.
Questions immediately arose after the announcement about whether outside social justice groups will be part of the case review.
"The law is strict concerning our ability to allow non law enforcement, non-DA's offices to review certain types of documents," Dupree said, saying the law wouldn't allow them to be able to see certain things until they get to a certain point. "When we get to that point, absolutely, others will be included."
KSHB 41 News asked Oakman how the public will be able to see what they're doing, in an effort to show transparency. Oakman said after their review, they'll present it to the commission and the mayor's office. Further, Oakman said staff is updating the department's website so people will be able to see complaints issued against officers, though the officers' names may not be public.
Roc Nation and MORE2, two social justice groups who are behind the push to bring in the Department of Justice, released statements expressing their concern that the police department is essentially investigating themselves.
"While we applaud the efforts from the Unified Government to encourage a full review, the involvement of KCKPD is a major red flag," a statement from MORE2 read. "As a department that shielded and protected Golubski, KCKPD should be nowhere near the review of his cases. This is why MORE2 and our partners continue in a unified call for the Department of Justice to come in, from an independent perspective, and conduct a full pattern or practice investigation."
Golubski’s career in KCK’s police department has come under increasing scrutiny by prosecutors and federal investigators, as well as by local and national activists.
Last week, a federal grand jury indicted Golubski and three other co-defendants for their alleged roles in a sex trafficking ring.
In September, Golubski was indicted by another federal grand jury for the alleged assault of two victims while he was a police officer. The accusations grew to include seven other women.
While they engage in a review of the past, Oakman outlined steps he believes will help prevent a similar situation in the future.
Steps include having a liaison that will work with the community, working with the FBI to have color law training, and conduct yearly implicit bias training.
Oakman spoke to prevention efforts that are already in place which includes talking to Kansas City, Kansas, residents on a Facebook live stream that Oakman says they have done since Aug. 2021. Those live sessions take place every second Tuesday of the month.
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