This istory is part of Overlooked, an investigative podcast from KCUR.
When disgraced former Kansas City, Kansas, Police Detective Roger Golubski goes on trial Monday, his victims, social activists and others will watch to see if he is brought to justice for his alleged crimes.
Golubski’s case, experts say, is also emblematic of a larger problem that reverberates throughout the law enforcement system: neither local police departments nor the federal oversight system are held accountable for how they treat the most vulnerable communities they are sworn to protect.
The accusations at the heart of Golubski’s case date back decades, and reflect a culture of system-wide inaction among everyone who knew of his abuses and chose not to do anything until now, said Dr. Tracie Keesee, a former New York Police Department deputy commissioner and co-founder of the Center for Police Equity.
“And we wonder why the Black community as a whole has zero trust in being made safe and why the systems themselves, which were not necessarily designed to protect the most vulnerable, are always in question,” Keesee said.
The FBI knew of widespread police corruption in the department dating back to the 1990s, as KCUR reported in 2021. The FBI said officers routinely violated the civil rights of the Black community, committed drug and other crimes and ignored the crack cocaine epidemic.
“Shame on the department. Shame on the feds,” Keesee said. “Shame on everyone who did not move, who allowed people to pretty much have their lives ruined because for whatever your reasons are, you didn’t want to act.”
Federal prosecutors say Golubski used the power of his badge to violate the civil rights of two women by rape, kidnapping and sexual assault. He’s charged under a federal statute making it a crime for government officials, including law enforcement officers, to deprive a person of federally-protected civil rights.
The women are named by their initials, S.K. and O.W. Prosecutors will use the testimony of seven additional women whom Golubski allegedly assaulted or attacked to show that he used the same set of tactics and forced sex acts on multiple vulnerable Black women.
Golubski pleaded not guilty. In a filing last week, Golubski said his defense will be that "no crime occurred at all and that S.K.’s and O.W.’s allegations are fabrications."
Golubski was also named in the case of Lamonte McIntyre, a KCK man who was wrongfully convicted of a 1994 double homicide and exonerated in 2017. The Unified Government of Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County settled a civil lawsuit with McIntyre for $12.5 million.
Lauren Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project, said these kinds of federal corruption cases are not typically about just the “one bad apple.” And a cop like Golubski can easily act in a small, insular community like Wyandotte County, said Bonds, who lives in Kansas City, Kansas.
“The high levels of secrecy with which the government conducts all of its business, really, kind of allows situations like this to occur and to continue,” she said.
Golubski, 71, is in poor health, with heart problems and diabetes, according to his lawyer. Because he needs dialysis, the trial will be held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, leaving Thursdays for his treatment.
U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse, a 2020 Trump appointee, set strict rules for the proceeding. He barred cameras and any recording, including on cell phones, which are not allowed into the courthouse. The court has set aside an overflow courtroom where a likely large crowd of media, victims, social activists and court watchers can listen to an audio feed.
Crouse has also barred anyone from wearing or carrying any clothing, buttons or anything with a message or symbol that reflects the issues in this case, a direct warning to the many community activists who sometimes show up wearing T-shirts and buttons commemorating their family members or calling for justice.
A rally titled “Stand with women, rally for justice” will be held outside the courthouse in downtown Topeka at 10 a.m. A bus of activists from KCK plan to attend the rally, and some of them hope to get into the overflow courtroom.
Activists have called for a larger investigation into the KCK Police Department for years, asking the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct what’s called a “pattern-or-practice” investigation — a full-scale look into allegations of excessive force or other unconstitutional practices by law enforcement.
The trial is set to last through mid-January.
