Never ... ever... walk into a police station by yourself and try to file a complaint against a police officer. Civilian testers have shown that you may be harassed or falsely arrested for doing so.
Police
complaints are allegations of misconduct and you as a citizen have the right to
file a police complaint. When someone files a police complaint against a police
officer an incident report is placed in the officer's record, so as to hopefully
keep the officer from continuing to abuse his or her authority. It also makes
the officers superiors aware that there might be a problem with an individual
police officer that needs to be addressed.
Filing a police complaint and reporting police misconduct is a step
towards ending this abuse of power by
police.
Examples of police
misconduct:
Rudeness
Excessive
force
Soliciting or accepting
bribes
Drinking on
duty
Harassment
Making a false report (good for alleging in the case of traffic
tickets)
Use of narcotics (on or off
duty)
Discrimination
Altering information on an official
document
Careless driving (driving rapidly and/or aggressively to a minor
call
Racial or ethnic
intimidation
Malicious threats or
assault
Sexual
harassment
Police
complaints will not get a victim compensated for police abuse. Police complaints
are not law suits. If you file a complaint against a police officer and the
police clear themselves as they often do, the only recourse you may have is a
civil law suit. A
civil law suit you may
receive compensation if you and your attorney can prove damages or civil rights
violations. Contact a competent civil rights attorney if you need more
information about filing a law suit for civil rights
violations.
To file a complaint on a police officer "one of
a less serious nature,"
you need to send
a written complaint "certified mail with return receipt." You can send the
police complaint to Internal Affairs. Certified mail gives you some type of
proof that you actually filed a complaint against a police
officer. If you don't
send the complaint certified mail the letter sometimes gets lost or misplaced by
someone at the police
department.
As soon as possible
write down everything that happened. Don't worry about sending your complaint
off right away. Wait a few days and go
back over your written complaint and see what you might have forgotten the first
time you wrote it. There's no need for "emotions" to be involved, when you write
your complaint and the most important thing is to be
truthful! If the police catch
you in a lie, your complaint won't be credible nor will any other complaints you
send in the future. You could even be charged for making a false report against
a police officer and in some states be sued.
The more information
in your written complaint the better. Your compliant should
include:
Who
is the officer you're filing a complaint against? Name or badge
number?
What
the officer said or did? Was he rude, abusive or used excessive
force?
When
did it happen? Date and
time.
Where did it occur?
Location?
How
did the incident occur?
Do you have
corroborating witnesses, whose story does not conflict with yours? If you have
witnesses you should ask each of them to write a separate account of the
incident.
Do you have any type
of evidence, like pictures or a video recording? If you do, don't send the
"original" to the police, send only a
copy.
Mail the complaint
"certified mail with return
receipt
requested," to Internal Affairs
at the police department or the sheriffs department where the officer works. The
complaint will be investigated and you should receive a letter back from the
police agency on the status of your complaint. Most police complaints will be in
the favor of the police officer, but the good thing is the complaint will stay
on the police officers record.
The police may try
and contact you by phone or mail to do a "follow up" about your complaint. Don't
answer any questions and never go down to the police station for an interview.
Tell them everything they need to know is in your letter you sent and then say
good bye. Stick to what you said in your complaint letter and say nothing
else!
There is a time limit
on how long you have to file a complaint against a police officer. For minor
police misconduct you may have only 60 days and up to 6 months for more serious
allegations.
If you're
interested in knowing what complaints have been filed against police officers in
your community, you may request a copy of that information
be sent to you from that police agency. Send your request
"certified
mail with return
receipt
requested." Request a
copy of complaints of police officers from that agency be mailed to you under
the "Freedom of Information Act." DON'T ever walk into a police station and ask
for this information! Police officers either start acting real stupid on the
subject or they get mad and start threatening
you.
Never file a complaint
directly with a police agency specially if the complaint is of a serious nature,
see an attorney! If you do plan on hiring an attorney, get one who doesn't work
in your area. Don't get a lawyer
from your town, county or from the surrounding counties. Local lawyers work with
same judges, prosecutors and police officers on a daily basis and may not want
to win your case as bad as you
do.
You may also contact
your State Attorney General. For serious incidents call the ACLU hot line
1-877-634-5454 or contact
the
Department of
Justice Click here for the (DOJ)
site.