Police shooting report released by Overland Park missing key information, critics say

Investigators at the scene where an Overland Park police officer shot and killed 17-year-old John Albers were supposed to have a supervisor take detailed notes of the officer’s version of events immediately, according to the local policy on police shooting investigations.

The investigators were also supposed to take measurements and create a diagram of the scene.

But there is no evidence of that in the 498-page report released by Overland Park officials Thursday, which the city said represented a “a complete and thorough investigation.”

The missing scene diagram was just one of the problems Sheila Albers, the teen’s mother, found in the material released by the city. She also noted the investigation seemed to focus excessively on John’s mental state and not on the shooting officer, Clayton Jenison.

“John may not have been perfect, but he was deeply loved,” Sheila Albers said. “He deserved an investigation that was competent, unbiased and backed by evidence. This was not an investigation, it was victim blaming.”

Police accountability experts pointed to flaws not only in the specific investigation of the Albers shooting but the policies that governed how the investigation was conducted. Those policies cast civilians as “suspects” and direct officers to ask “use of force justification questions.”

In Johnson County, police shootings are investigated by the Officer Involved Shooting Investigation Team, composed of officers from several law enforcement agencies in the county.

The shooting of John Albers was investigated by officers from the Leawood, Olathe, Prairie Village, Merriam and Mission police departments, as well as the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.

The investigators were brought in Jan. 20, 2018, after Jenison fired 13 shots as Albers backed out of the family’s driveway. Police had been called for a welfare check on the teen, who was believed to be suicidal.

The team’s investigation was completed nine days after the shooting and sent to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office. District Attorney Steve Howe declined to file charges, saying the shooting was justified because Jenison feared for his life.

Since the shooting, the Albers family filed a wrongful death lawsuit which was settled for $2.3 million and it was discovered that Jenison received a $70,000 severance before resigning from the department.

The police department also changed its policy on shooting at moving vehicles, a practice that is widely banned because a bullet cannot stop a car and the officer’s best means of self defense is to step away.

The Star and 41 Action News filed lawsuits against the city for the release of records related to the shooting. When Overland Park announced it was going to release the report last week, it came with an acknowledgment that the situation had eroded trust between the city and the community.

On Friday, attorney Bernie Rhodes, who is representing 41 Action News, said the lawsuit seeking the investigative team’s file is ongoing.

“I can’t believe we have everything,” Rhodes said. “We are proceeding until we either get answers or the full report, or both.”

Scene reconstruction

While the report does include Jenison’s training history, it does not include the former officer’s performance reviews or disciplinary history, if any existed.

That information would have been more relevant to the investigation than the teen’s background, said Lauren Bonds, legal director of the National Police Accountability Project.

Information about John Albers’ past contacts with police appears on page four of the report, something Bonds suggested was done “to prejudice the reader against John and proactively justify Mr. Jenison’s actions.

“Mr. Jenison did not have access to that information prior to the shooting and did not claim to have relied on John’s criminal history when assessing the possible risk John might pose to others,” Bonds said.

Sheila Albers said the investigation focused too much on her son’s struggles.

Dozens of pages contain writings and social media posts made by John Albers. Twenty pages of the report contain copies of a journal kept by the teen and several more include information about his juvenile record.

Bonds also questioned why the report did not contain any scene reconstructions detailing Jenison’s position with respect to the moving vehicle and how much danger it may have posed.

Such a scene diagram is called for on page nine of the Johnson County police shooting team’s investigation policy.

“Measure for and prepare a scene diagram,” the policy says. But no such detailed reconstruction appears in the report.

“The speed at which the vehicle was traveling and relation of the vehicle to where Mr. Jeninson was standing are both highly relevant to his reasonableness/credibility of his perception of the threat,” Bonds said. “I would think that Steve Howe would want that information when he was trying to decide whether to press charges.”

“Regarding the scene diagram or reconstruction report, we have disclosed all documents of the OISIT report in our possession,” Sean Reilly, a spokesman for the City of Overland Park, said.

A 3D scan of the scene does exist, Reilly said, and was retained by the crime lab. But it can only be viewed using proprietary software.

It is unclear if the scan was presented to the district attorney’s office when a charging decision was being made.

Shooting recounted

Jenison was interviewed by two detectives four days after the shooting, with his attorney in the room.

The interview lasted 46 minutes, during which they took a 10-minute break.

In a video of the interview released with the report Thursday, Jenison said his intentions that day were “not to shoot” Albers but to “make sure he was alright and we got him the help he needed.”

Dispatchers had told responding officers that Albers had been cutting himself and was threatening to stab himself, Jenison recalled.

Once at the home, Jenison said, he told Albers to stop the minivan as he was backing it out of the garage.

“He didn’t listen to my commands,” Jenison told the detectives. “I shot.”

Jenison believed he fired two to three shots. The minivan, he said, then went past him “rapidly” before it did a U-turn in the driveway. As the minivan came back toward Jenison, he fired again, he recalled. He believed he fired five to seven rounds that time.

“Where I was, I believed he was going to hit me,” Jenison said.

According to the lawsuit filed by the Albers family, the vehicle was traveling at 2.5 mph.

In total, Jenison fired 13 rounds, the investigation showed. Six struck Albers, most of them hitting the back of his body, including his head.

Michael Gennaco, principal of OIR Group, an organization of police practices experts, said Johnson County’s investigation policies were better than some others he has seen.

But a couple of best practices for police interviews were absent.

The policy says the investigator should schedule an interview with the shooting officer “at a later time.” In this case, that unspecified time came four days after the shooting. That is two days longer than the 48 hours allowed by the Kansas City Police Department’s policy, which itself has been criticized for being unduly favorable to the officer.

Capturing information as soon as possible is key, Gennaco said, to understanding what happened and should be done before the officer’s memory fades or could be influenced.

Gennaco also said the policy does not specify whether the officer is allowed to view body camera footage or other recordings before being interviewed.

In Jenison’s recorded interview, he spoke about relying on his memory and video of the incident to recount what happened.

Investigation team’s manual

Police shootings in Johnson County since 2004 have been investigated by the multi-agency OISIT team, which is guided by a 22-page document, last revised in November.

That document lays out the roles of the investigators, how people should be interviewed, and what should be included in the investigation.

On page nine, the document says the primary investigator is responsible for leading a walk-through of the entire scene with the shooting officer. The walk-through is not to be recorded on video, but “the investigator should ask questions where appropriate and take notes,” the policy says.

Those notes are not found in the report released by the city Thursday.

Experts who reviewed the policy at The Star’s request said it uses certain language to justify the officer and cast the person who was shot as guilty of a crime.

The policy says “use of force justification questions may be asked.”

Those include questions like “What crimes, actions or perceived acts of aggression precipitated the use of deadly force?”

“Did the suspect exhibit aggressive or erratic behavior or appear under the influence of drugs or alcohol?”

Although the team carries out criminal investigations of officers who discharge their firearm, the policy says “an involved officer should not be considered a ‘suspect’ or ‘offender.’”

However, others involved in the incident should be referred to as a “suspect” or an “offender.”

Labeling a citizen as a suspect, Bonds said, suggests the person was involved in a crime and the shooting was justified.

Bonds also said many of the questions posed to officers are leading and “designed to encourage the officer to present their version of the events in an exculpatory manner.”

The Overland Park Police Department referred questions about the policy to city officials, who referred questions to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office.

Howe said some consideration should be given to modifying some of the language in the protocol.

“Regardless of the wording of the protocol, we have always seen the Johnson County OISIT conduct a objective and unbiased approach to their investigations,” Howe said in an email Friday.

“This office has always applied the facts developed by OISIT investigation to Kansas law in making our determination.”

Sheila Albers said the team’s guidelines show that “there is nothing impartial or unbiased about the process.”

While the city took a step in the right direction when it comes to transparency, she said, she also wants to see accountability.

“Let’s talk about how that investigation is conducted in the first place,” she said. “If that system doesn’t change, this nightmare will repeat itself.”

Last Monday, Sheila Albers and a local social justice organization called for the removal of Police Chief Frank Donchez.

A severance agreement made public last month revealed the department reported Jenison’s resignation was made “voluntarily under ordinary circumstances” on a form submitted to the state agency on law enforcement certification.

As of last month, Jenison still held a valid Kansas law enforcement license, according the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training’s website.

A federal civil rights investigation of the shooting is being conducted by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas.