New team investigates police shootings in Jackson County. But will it be transparent?

The ink had hardly dried on an agreement by four police departments in eastern Jackson County to create their own team to investigate police shootings before it was put to its first test early Thursday.

An Independence police officer shot and seriously injured a man who allegedly pulled out a gun during a disturbance at the BP gas station at 23rd Street and Crysler Avenue, according to a spokesman for the investigative team.

Ryland E. Polson, 30, has since been charged in Jackson County Circuit Court with first-degree assault or attempted murder of a special victim and unlawfully exhibiting a firearm.

In the past, the Missouri State Highway Patrol would have handled the investigation into the shooting. Instead, detectives from the newly formed Eastern Jackson County Police Involved Incident Team descended on the scene.

The team, being called PIIT, will now investigate police shootings and other officer use-of-force incidents in Blue Springs, Grandview, Independence and Lee’s Summit.

The team is so new that the police chiefs were still contemplating how they would introduce its creation. They decided to use the shooting Thursday as the means to do so, Blue Springs Police Chief Bob Muenz said during a hastily assembled news conference with the police chiefs from the three other cities.

The announcement from Muenz, Independence Police Chief Adam Dustman, Lee’s Summit Police Chief Travis Forbes and Grandview Police Chief Charles Iseman, was met with questions about whether the team will be unbiased and transparent.

While this sort of team is considered a best practice, Johnson County’s equivalent has been criticized for its flawed investigation into the fatal shooting of a teenager by a police officer. Additionally, the eastern Jackson County team was created with no community input and its policies have not been made public.

‘Blue investigating blue’

The police chiefs said they began talking last year about how busy the highway patrol had become investigating police shootings in Kansas City.

They also discussed how long those investigations were taking, Muenz said.

“It’s three to six months before it’s even presented to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office,” he said.

As an example, Muenz mentioned a police shooting on Aug. 20 in which 28-year-old Michael D. Saunders was killed as officers tried to arrest him. That investigation still has not been concluded.

“The families, the communities and the officers involved, we need to get answers as quickly as we can,” Muenz said. “So we’re hoping that having this alternate resource that we can maybe expedite these investigations a little bit and still do a thorough job.”

Muenz said he thinks the new investigative team could do complete its investigation as quick as 30 days, depending on how complex the case is, how much evidence needs to be collected, whether search warrants for technology are needed and how fast results come back from the lab.

“Faster is only better if you’re able to conduct a thorough, objective investigation,” said Gwen Grant, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City. “We certainly would not want to compromise accuracy and compromise the efficacy of the process just for the sake of speed.”

However, when investigations drag on, that causes a lot of suspicion, she said.

During a closed, special meeting in June 2020, the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners approved having outside agencies review every police shooting and major use-of-force complaint against an officer.

The meeting had followed a weekend of demonstrations in Kansas City and across the country expressing outrage over the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and calling for an end to police brutality and systemic racism.

The highway patrol agrees that it has had a busy workload. Since 2020, Troop A, which includes the Kansas City area, has investigated 38 police shootings, said Sgt. William Lowe, a spokesman for the highway patrol.

“I’d say we have been consistently busy,” said Lowe, who added most of those investigations involved the Kansas City and Independence police departments.

Lowe doesn’t think the time the highway patrol taken to investigate police shootings has been “anything outrageous.” He acknowledged the investigations were about as long as Muenz described.

He noted it can be hard to put a number on how long an investigation should take because each one is different and unique, he said. While one case may have a lot of moving parts, another might not.

The highway patrol will continue to investigate police shootings, but they will need to be asked, Lowe said.

The new police shootings team, modeled after the Johnson County Officer Involved Shooting Investigation Team and programs in cities north of the Missouri River, will investigate shootings and other use-of-force incidents.

No agency will investigate its own incidents. The aim is to have the three agencies investigate the fourth agency involved in the incident, if staffing levels allow, Muenz said.

“We recognize that fact that it’s important to use an outside agency to investigate your use of force incidents, especially those that lead to fatalities,” Muenz said. “We are concerned about public trust and we know what that looks like and we believe that we can do that.”

A liaison from the police department involved in the shooting will assist the investigative team by obtaining evidence, statements or anything else that is needed.

During the news conference, Muenz was asked about the public’s desire to have an independent investigation of police activity and how to overcome people’s perception that the new program is still police investigating police.

“So I understand where you’re coming from, it looks like blue investigating blue, but it’s the same as the highway patrol investigating — they’re another law enforcement agency investigating another law enforcement agency,” Muenz said. “We can do that. And we can do that thoroughly.”

He said he thinks the other chiefs would agree with him that they are not going to lower themselves and cover something up.

“If an officer makes an act or decision and takes action, we’ll evaluate that,” Muenz said. “If it’s wrong, it’s wrong. If it’s right, it’s right. And we’ll present that to the prosecutor’s office.”

While multi-agency teams and outside investigators are considered a best practice, some in the public remain skeptical, pointing to the thin blue line that protects officers as well as instances where police have covered up evidence or planted evidence. During the trial last year of former KCPD detective Eric DeValkenaere, who fatally shot a man in 2019, prosecutors alleged the crime scene was staged and evidence was planted.

The four departments will still use the Missouri State Highway Patrol and partner with them and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, Muenz said. The police departments included the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office when they were developing the team and has its approval.

“It’s commendable that these agencies, who are responsible for how these investigations are conducted, chose to design a system using outside investigators,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. “Our office believes that is necessary to maintain and build the community’s trust in law enforcement.“

The police chiefs said the team will operate in the same manner as the highway patrol: once an investigation is completed, the case file will be presented to the agency involved as well as the prosecutor’s office for a charging decision.

Policies not made public

This newly formed team was created without consulting with civic groups for input on how the program should operate.

“We have discussed this with certain other members of the community, but we have not reached out to any civic groups,” Muenz said. “I would be happy to do so if we need to do that and I think that at some point me we might. Again, let me back up, we had planned to roll this out and we’re preparing to do that.”

The policies and procedures have also not been made public.

Grant, of the Urban League, said she was surprised to learn about the newly formed team. She believes these types of plans or collaborations should be public.

To build community trust, agencies need to engage the public, civic groups and civil rights organizations early on in the process, not after all the systems are put into place, she said.

“You’re pretty much setting yourself up for failure in the quest to build strong community relations because it’s really coming after the fact and is not really an authentic approach to community building,” she said.

The group has advocated for an outside agency to investigate all excessive and deadly force incidents. Their preference is that the FBI handles them because of concerns over whether the network of law enforcement agencies would be totally objective, she said.

When asked whether any of the policies that have been adopted would be published online so people could look at them, critique them and add their input, Muenz said it was a good question but they haven’t even talked about that.

“We’ll probably check with Johnson County, Kansas, or the agencies north of the river that have them up and see if they’ve done anything like that and we’ll probably imitate what they do,” Muenz said. “We may also have to check with legal, maybe get an attorney, and we’ll see if we can release it.”

The policy manual for Johnson County’s team is not posted online, however it may be obtained by filing a Kansas open records request.

The Star has requested a copy of PIIT’s policies and procedures under the Missouri Sunshine law. Sgt. Chris Depue, a spokesman for the Lee’s Summit Police Department, responded that it would take an estimated 10 days to “secure the appropriate legal review” of request and “permission from all four agencies that make up the PIIT.”

When it comes to investigating use-of-force incidents, the team will release as much information as it can through the media just like any investigation, Muenz said. There may be parts of the investigation they are unable to release. Information that can be released will be done through the spokespersons of the agency involved or the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.

Other police shooting teams

The track record of multi-jurisdictional teams tasked with investigating police use of force has been mixed.

On Jan. 20, 2018, an Overland Park police officer shot and killed 17-year-old John Albers. The homicide was investigated by the multi-jurisdictional Johnson County Officer Involved Shooting Team. No charges were filed.

Facing pressure from a lawsuit, city officials in April 2021 released the investigative case file. It was missing key information called for in the task force’s policy, such as a supervisor’s initial notes from the shooting officer and a scene reconstruction. Crime lab records, including a shooting reconstruction that detailed the bullet trajectories, were also not included.

In the years since her son’s death, Sheila Albers has fought for transparency.

She said these multi-jurisdictional teams need to have their policies, procedures and contact information available on a website for the public. Johnson County’s team does not have a website.

“The community deserves that level of transparency regarding the loss of a life,” Albers said.

“Without transparency there is no accountability.”

Albers pointed to places that have taken steps to be more transparent.

In the Fort Collins, Colorado, area, the Critical Incident Response Team is comprised of nine police agencies and the district attorney’s office, according to David Moore, a spokesman for the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office. The group was established in 2005 and has 78-pages of protocols available online along with updates on specific cases and charging decisions.

“It’s important that folks get that information and that they really understand that this was a very thorough and professional investigation that has been presented to the district attorney with all the facts available at the time and that the DA had all the information that they needed to make their decision,” Moore said.

In 2014, Wisconsin became the first state to mandate outside agencies investigate fatal police actions. If no charges are filed, the investigative file is published online.

James Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, said encounters with police that result in death are traumatic for communities.

“The public has every right to have questions about how officers conducted themselves, and the fact that our law provides such transparency helps provide the public with the answers frankly, that they deserve,” he said. “And I think that’s beneficial from the public aspect and I think it’s also beneficial from a law enforcement perspective.”