Jay-Z‘s Team Roc has filed a lawsuit against the Kansas City Police Department over their alleged failing in producing records relating to police corruption and abuse.
Per Rolling Stone, Team Roc – a social justice organisation overseen by the rapper’s company Roc Nation – filed the lawsuit on Tuesday (November 19) with the non-profit organisation Midwest Innocence Project (MIP) against both Kansas City and its police department.
It relates to a request both parties filed in November 2023 to view documents from both the police department and public records from local government over allegations of a “longstanding” and “alarming” pattern of corruption and misconduct committed by its policemen.
Both Team Roc and the MIP allege that police and government officials have failed to comply with the request. “Defendants have stonewalled plaintiffs for almost a year,” the lawsuit reads, per documents obtained by Rolling Stone. Read the lawsuit in full here.
“Defendants have produced zero documents relating to any complaint or investigation into even a single instance of misconduct by any member of the KCKPD.”
The lawsuit features claims by Team ROC that police and city officials used “improper and unsubstantiated boilerplate objections” to fight the process and “gouged” the plaintiffs in Team ROC and MIP by charging more than US$2,200 for allegedly non-responsive documents, which apparently include field manuals and training materials.
They claim the “excessive” fees were levied “presumably in an attempt to discourage [plaintiffs] from pursuing the records at issue.” NME has reached out to the Kansas City Police Department for comment.
The lawsuit continues to claim that residents in the city “have suffered enormously” as a result of alleged abuses by the police department.
“Some have been framed for crimes they did not commit; some have been coerced into providing false testimony; some have been sexually assaulted; some have endured brutal beatings; and some have even been killed,” it reads.
In a statement, Team ROC managing director Dania Diaz says: “We have to set a precedent that transparency and accountability are non-negotiable.”
“For the past year, we’ve been pushing for documents from the government and have been continuously met with non-compliance. It’s unacceptable – getting access to those materials is critical to exposing the corruption, reforming local policies, and helping the local community heal.”
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