How does a citizen file a complaint with police?

How does a citizen go about filing a complaint with a municipal police department in McHenry County?

Which department doesn't really matter, for purposes of this discussion. Yet... It could be Woodstock or McHenry or Huntley or Crystal Lake. (Or Marengo or Hebron or Richmond or (you name the town or village.)

The general procedure will be roughly the same. If something happens (the what will be discussed shortly), and a citizen feels that he ought to, can or should report it to police, then he can generally do one of two things. He can call the police department and ask for an officer to come to his residence, business or to a specific location, or he can go to the police station.

The report is most often, if not always, made to a patrol or street officer. Even if you are a friend of the chief or, assuming a larger department, the deputy chief, you don't call up your "friend" and say, "I want so-and-so arrested!" Or, if you do, the right step for the chief (or deputy chief) is for him to tell you that he will have an officer dispatched to take a report.

The point is that a street officer (the low guy on the totem pole) will be dispatched to take the initial report. He'll either be sent to your location, or he'll be called into the station to meet you there. Then he'll find out what happened. The call time for your complaint will be in dispatcher's records. The dispatch time of the officer will be in the dispatcher's records (and in the officer's report). The time of his arrival will be in his report and the dispatcher's records.

Hang in here now. You may have already guessed there is a reason for the nitty-gritty about this.

Let's say that "the something" happened about 9:15 in the morning. If you were really worried about it, you'd call the police pretty quickly, wouldn't you? You probably wouldn't twiddle your thumbs all day, or toss a coin to decide whether to call the police, would you? Especially if you were on a first-name basis with the chief and the deputy chief?

Now the patrol officer would get busy and write up a report, and he'd get a Report Number over the radio (or telephone) from a dispatcher. Report Numbers are issued in sequence. The time of issuance for a report number is right in the log.

Starting to wonder why I'm writing all this and sending it your way? Stay tuned. There is more to follow shortly.