Kansas City police will be banned — temporarily — from releasing documents from two deadly police shootings across the state line, a judge ruled Tuesday.
The data was requested by The Star under Missouri’s Sunshine Law after KCPD was called in to investigate police shootings in Kansas City, Kansas.
Last Thursday, the United Government of Wyandotte County and KCK filed a lawsuit against the KCPD. The United Government subsequently requested a temporary restraining order to stop the release of the documents.
Platte County Circuit Judge Myles Perry granted the request Tuesday.
In 2022, the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department and KCPD entered into an interstate agreement stating that the agencies could call on each other to investigate critical incidents such as police shootings.
KCKPD requested assistance from KCPD five times, including two fatal police shootings.
The Star requested the records of the shootings of KCPD’s Jon Anderton and Amaree’ya Henderson in April and June, after Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree declined to file charges against the officers and the criminal investigation was closed.
Under Missouri’s Sunshine Law, records are subject to open records requests once an investigation is completed. In Kansas, disclosure is at the discretion of the district attorney, police department or other government officials.
After months of waiting, Bernie Rhodes, an attorney for The Star, sent an email to KCPD’s Office of General Counsel on Oct. 16 with questions about the delay. The United Government filed a lawsuit the next day.
Ryan Denk, an attorney representing the United Government, said in court Tuesday that they have filed requests with KCPD to return the materials, and some files have been returned on a hard drive. The twist, he said, is that KCPD has a records management system in which some materials, including body-worn camera footage and dashboard camera footage, are still stored at the Missouri department. Those recordings are what the United Government is most interested in getting back, he said. Denk continued that the files are owned by KCK.
The record petitioners, he said, are trying to “put an end” to the Kansas Open Records Act.
Lisa Krigsten, an attorney representing KCPD, said that because the district attorney had completed his review of the case for possible charges, the files were considered open files and the department must respond to the records requests. She said the department was willing to turn over the documents without a temporary restraining order.
Additionally, she said, department policy requires them to upload research materials to their content management system.
Judge Perry initially questioned why the case was filed in Platte County when the KCPD is headquartered in Jackson County. Denk said the department has a presence in Platte, Jackson and Clay counties. Krigsten said she would not dispute where the case was heard.
Perry said the case hinges on the interpretation of the agreement between the Joint Government and the KCPD, which allows for interagency investigations.
One section says: “The distribution of documents will be in accordance with the laws of the state of the agency controlling the documents.”
Another part stipulates that the original file must be returned if a report is filed.
And another section says, “The parties do not contemplate acquiring any real or personal property.”
The next hearing is scheduled for November 6.
