Social justice group starts police misconduct hotline in KCK after sex abuse reports
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Former KCK detective Roger Golubski
Roger Golubski, a former Kansas City, Kansas, police detective, has been accused of using his badge to exploit and rape vulnerable Black women. Here’s the story so far.
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A social justice advocacy organization has announced it is launching a hotline in Kansas City, Kansas, for people to report police misconduct.
The Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity, also known as MORE2 said at a news conference Wednesday that calls can be made to 913-228-3007. The line will not be monitored 24/7 but content of voicemails will not be turned over to law enforcement.
“We can’t fill the hole left by local government but we will listen,” said spokesperson Kadijah Hardaway.
Immediately following the news conference the group canvassed in a Kansas City, Kansas, neighborhood.
“This is something that has been over 20 years running in KCKS, and we are not going to accept it anymore,” Hardaway said in written statement. “We are taking it to the people.”
MORE2 is an interfaith Kansas City-based organization focusing on “racial and economic justice through metropolitan equity and social change.”
The announcement comes about a month after the organization marched to the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas City Hall in protest of police abuses. The organization demanded that the city fire Police Chief Terry Zeigler, create a hotline, and begin an outside investigation of allegations against KCKPD officers.
The department is currently the defendant in two federal lawsuits alleging sexual abuse and misconduct by police officers.
One filed in October alleges that Lamonte McIntyre was falsely convicted for two murders he didn’t commit because of alleged sexual coercion of witnesses and fabricated statements. The detective in that case, Roger Golubski, was the partner of Zeigler, the current police chief.
The other, filed by a former police cadet, says she was dismissed from the cadet program after she reported sexual harassment and assault by a supervising officer. The supervising officer was convicted of misdemeanor battery.
In a news release Wednesday, the police department addressed the complaints and demands of MORE2..
The release said that, aside from social media and protests, the police department has never been made aware of the abuse alleged by MORE2. In 2018, the release said, the department’s internal affairs office only received complaints relating to 0.1% of police calls.
“The current administration is not able to answer for the historical events alleged by More2,” the release said. “The current administration can answer for our current policies, procedures and hiring practices. The police department takes all allegations seriously and we hold ourselves to the highest moral and ethical standards.”
The statement defended Zeigler, saying crime rates have reduced during his tenure and that he was never notified of unlawful acts by Golubski while he worked with him.
KCKPD Spokesman Thomas Tomasic said contractual time limits governing administrative complaints and statute of limitations on criminal complaints limit the department’s ability to investigate Golubski.
“The criminal allegations against Golubski exceed the statute of limitations and therefore we do not have jurisdiction,” Tomasic said. “We believe the only agency that could investigate the criminal allegations made against Golubski would be the FBI if it is determined there were civil rights violations.”
Unified Government spokesperson Mike Taylor said the police department already has a bilingual complaint line and the government has a hotline to the county’s ethics administrator.
Those wishing to make a complaint, the statement said, can call the police department hotline at 913-522-6373 or the internal affairs office at 913-573-6370. The Unified Government’s ethics hotline is 913-621-3294.
This story was originally published July 3, 2019 at 12:50 PM.
