Jay-Z’s Team Roc has penned a letter to the Justice Department urging an investigation into the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department.
The social justice arm of Roc Nation, along with nonprofit Midwest Innocence Project, wrote on Jan. 12 that there is “no excuse to justify the DOJ’s silence,” sharing that a “pattern or practice” investigation into systemic police misconduct and discrimination is warranted, NBC News shares.
“We are committed to holding these so-called public servants accountable for alleged rampant acts of brutality and exploitation and request a meeting with the DOJ to discuss out findings—findings we hope will move you to act,” Team Roc wrote in an open letter addressed to Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. “These allegations require the urgency that the Kansas City, Kansas community deserves.”
In the letter, Team Roc shares that eight FBI investigations from the ’90s show “significant evidence of depraved acts” by the police department, arguing that inaction on behalf of the DOJ for three decades infers that the Justice Department has “harbored the practices and patterns” of the police department.
“The DOJ’s continued inaction tells targeted minority communities held hostage to the whims of the carceral state that justice does not exist for them, that their lives do not matter,” the letter reads.
The FBI records referred to in the letter, and recently made public, show various civil rights violation allegations, wherein 200 Kansas City police officers were accused of excessive force and misconduct. Back in September, Team Roc sued the Kansas City PD to “help ascertain the scope of the misconduct and evaluate the adequacy of the [department’s] training and supervision.”
In another letter sent on Dec. 20, and viewed by Complex, attorney Alex Spiro wrote to Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke about evidence suggesting officers coerced witnesses, tampered with evidence, harassed and had sexual arrangements with women on the job, fabricated testimony, and more. Spiro used examples from 2020—such as recent charges of using excessive force and having sexual relations on duty—arguing that they meet “the criteria for a pattern-or-practice investigation.”
“I am available at your convenience to discuss with you the matters related to Kansas City, Kansas and the work that the Department of Justice and Team Roc can do to help improve access to social justice and protect civil rights,” Spiro writes.
Just last year, a former Kansas City detective was at the center of a federal investigation after he was alleged to have framed people for crimes and exploited Black women for sex. A video uploaded by Roc Nation on Tuesday, shown above, highlights specific news stories stemming from Kansas City over the years, including those following alleged rapes and sexual assaults.
