Showing a united effort to handle case review files from former detective Roger Golubski, on Monday the KCKPD chief, Wyandotte County district attorney and UG mayor announced a plan of working together.
Golubski is a retired detective from the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department who was indicted by the federal government with several felonies over the course of his career, from 1975 through 2010. After he retired from KCKPD in 2010, he went to work for the Edwardsville Police Department until 2016. There has been a demand from the community and beyond to review all the cases he worked on in his career.
District Attorney Mark Dupree went before the Unified Government Commission on Thursday night to request $1.7 million for software that will scan in about 4,000 boxes of old DA case files and make them searchable electronically. It will help the DA’s office find all the old cases Golubski handled, as that is not now indexed.
Dupree said he will return to the UG Commission for a special meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22, to get the commission’s final approval for the $1.7 million software request.
Dual investigations will be going on in different departments.
KCK Police Chief Karl Oakman, in a news conference Monday, stressed that Roger Golubski does not represent the culture of the police department here, and that corruption will not be tolerated on the KCKPD. Officers who willfully violate policies will be held accountable by police and investigators for their actions.
Oakman, who came to the department from Kansas City, Missouri, was not employed here previously and does not have ties to the KCKPD before he was hired.
This recent change in leadership has led to the district attorney’s office being more able to work with police on investigations involving Golubski cases, according to Dupree.
Oakman said he had worked to institute several reforms since arriving here, becoming compliant with national initiatives to reduce excess violence, and bringing in outside training from the FBI to conduct color of law training.
Oakman said Golubski’s alleged actions occurred 20 to 25 years ago, but he wore the uniform and caused pain to the community and was a shame to the badge. His tenure and role were real and ethical failures, he said.
Golubski was involved in investigating 155 cases in his time as a detective in KCK, Oakman said. The KCKPD will establish a team of detectives and commanders to review all of his investigative cases, where they will look at policies and procedures following investigation, if techniques were used ethically and legally, and if they find any evidence to identify a suspect. If the review team discovers an issue with the three areas, the FBI and district attorney will be notified and the case will be assigned to a cold case unit for further investigation, he said.
Oakman said the KCKPD will conduct an internal review of Golubksi’s tenure to 2010 and use these findings to make sure that similar violations will never occur again in the department.
The process will not be quick, but it will be thorough, according to officials.
Dupree requested $1.7 million from the UG Commission last Thursday to have DA office files scanned in prior to 2007 that were stored away in boxes. Those files are not searchable electronically now.
Dupree said his office had begun since 2017 a long investigating process and that there had been found multiple concerns with Golubski’s work. Golubski was the detective who investigated the Lamonte McIntyre case. McIntyre was convicted. Decades later he was cleared by the Midwest Innocence Project, after he served for alleged crimes he did not commit, according to authorities.
The DA’s office reached out to the Department of Justice, FBI, KBI and the U.S. attorney for the state of Kansas, Dupree said. Because the FBI could not take those cases, the DA gave them to the director of KBI to review. At the time, the DA did not ask the KCKPD to review them because the police chief then was Golubski’s former partner, he said.
The DA’s office also worked with the U.S. attorney on this investigation of Golubski, he said. After investigation the FBI and U.S. attorney were able to indict Golubski, he said. It was not until 2021 when Oakman was chief that KCKPD was able to be brought into the investigation, he said. Once Oakman was chief, the investigation began to make progress as information was free-flowing, according to Dupree.
Dupree said once cases are reviewed through its conviction and integrity unit, he will ask for funding for an additional attorney to assist and an additional advocate to begin meeting with victims. If they find further evidence, the DA’s office will reach out to the police chief to collaborate, he said. The police will do its own investigation while the DA’s office will also do an investigation.
Dupree said Golubski’s work at the Edwardsville Police Department also will be reviewed. He did not expect to have very many cases from that work.
Dupree said he had been asking the UG to give him funding for this work, and in 2018 asked for files to be digitized. Funds at that time were denied, according to Dupree.
He said everyone at this point is willing to do whatever it takes to bring about justice.
Mayor Tyrone Garner said he would continue to stand with all those victims who have been adversely impacted by the allegations of criminal misconduct. He would continue to support an thorough investigation into any allegations that regard any misconduct from any UG employee, he said. He welcomed investigations, and believes action should be taken from the results.
“We’re here because we care about people and their lives, and we’re doing everything we can about making a difference,” Garner said.
Work had already been started in all these efforts, Garner said. They are taking a unified approach to a challenging case.
Garner said he also has taken steps to promote community safety and justice. He has appointed the Rev. Rick Behrens to chair a local law enforcement advisory board to work with the community, and he has supported the reduction of fines and fees in municipal court systems.
“We’re here because we do care about Wyandotte County,” Garner said.
The community will need to come together to support local, state and federal law enforcement, he said.
Any individuals who may have evidence are asked to come forward and give evidence to federal and state authorities, according to law enforcement officials. They also can come to the KCK police department, the district attorney’s office, the FBI, or other authorities.
According to Dupree, it usually takes years to do a thorough investigation into old cases, so people should not expect immediate results.
See more information on the $1.7 million request at https://wyandotteonline.com/da-gets-commitment-for-1-7-million-for-digitizing-past-files-in-relation-to-review-of-golubski-cases/.
