A hack of the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department exposed a highly secret Veracity Disclosure List, commonly known as a Giglio List.
KCUR and WIRED’s review of the document revealed dramatic details of alleged officer misconduct, from incompetence to domestic violence.
The story reporters, WIRED’s Dhruv Mehrotra and KCUR’s Peggy Lowe, along with editor Andrew Couts, found 62 officers on the list, some of whom still work for the department today. Even with over a terabyte of data to sift through, Lowe said there were known corrupt cops whose alleged misconduct did not make it on the list. That includes disgraced detective Roger Golubski, whom Lowe had been investigating for years.
“For instance, Golubski had one, single case in his file from the mid 1970s when he was charged with killing a man in the jail,” said Lowe. “That single problem was in his file when we know from the community that there were decades of people complaining about this guy, and even FBI arrests.”
Some officer’s alleged misconduct did result in them being fired, only to soon be reinstated or moved around within the department. Lowe said this was a function of the Fraternal Order of Police, who claimed the KCKPD violated the officer’s rights.
Lowe said the latest story shows how pervasive corruption is within the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department. However, she says she has already seen improvements from the current Police Chief Karl Oakman.
- Peggy Lowe, public safety, justice and investigative reporter, KCUR
- Andrew Couts, senior editor, WIRED
