Reporting Police Abuse

There are several ways to report abusive law enforcement officers or procedures.

What's important? Start at the top. Do not start with a low-level officer, if you have a complaint about a police officer, deputy sheriff or other law-enforcement officer. You go directly to the chief, the sheriff, the top dog, the big kahuna.

Have very accurate notes regarding what happened. Names, dates, times, places, witnesses. Write down everything. These are your records. Refer to them, but do not give them to the person to whom you report what happened.

You may be asked to write out a statement. Go home and write it out. Take your time. Make it complete. Be thorough. Then make a copy of it and take it back to the top guy (or to his direct designee).

Many departments have Internal Affairs Divisions. Many don't. Many won't; i.e., they don't want to have an IAD. A large department? For what possible reason would they not want one? Well, if you don't have one, then you don't have people with authority to investigate what is happening on the inside and with the authority to put it under the nose of the top person in charge and reasonably expect him to do something significant about it.

Ask for specific action. Ask for the timetable for investigation. Ask by what date you will be contacted and how the investigation will be conducted. If you fear retaliation or retribution, say so.

Ask how your complaint is treated within his department; i.e., who will know about it? Will it be common knowledge or will information in your complaint be on a "need-to-know" basis only.

A complaint I made recently resulted in the problem's drying up very quickly. I had no doubt that there was a big leak and that the offenders got word right away to cease their illegal activity. What I wanted was prosecution for the crime; instead, it just stopped and there was no prosecution. I had no way of proving a leak; was it a mere coincidence that the felonious action immediately stopped after I escalated my complaint?

You may find it wise to take a witness with you at the time you make your complaint.

Be careful about answering any questions. Remember; you are there to make a complaint about the employee/officer of that department, not to be interrogated yourself.

Here's a website that you may find of interest. Check out www.PoliceAbuse.com Read the webpages about How It Works and how to file a complaint.