The Police Complaint Process

Few things in our normal, day-to-day life cause anxiety quicker than an interaction with law enforcement. Who knows why this causes many people stress? Maybe it's ingrained in us to be afraid of authority as children. Or perhaps this response has evolved in humans over millenia of dealing with unpleasant authority figures. Or maybe it's because, deep down inside, we believe the law enforcement officer is a power-hungry asshole who is going to do what they want regardless of our actions or wishes. While this isn't the way things typically go, sometimes they do. And if you have ever been subjected to a rude or lying law enforcement officer and want to file a complaint you know the road ahead of you is going to be even more stressful (and maybe cause you more problems than you have now). But why is it this way?

Intimidation

In many places in the U.S. the police complaint process begins on a very ominous note. If you have ever filled out a police complaint form you probably saw a warning similar to this:

This legal warning is included prominently on a police complaint form and highlighted so as to draw your attention to the dire consequences that await you if the POLICE determine that your report to the POLICE about the actions of the POLICE are unwarranted. So what's the problem? You feel like you were treated unjustly, unfairly or dishonestly by a police officer and you should trust these police officers not to do the same. Right.

The truth is, this warning is a ruse. It's nothing more than a tool to deter you from complaining and they have absolutely no intention of prosecuting you for anything because they know they would be hard pressed to present evidence in court that you lied.

My former department had a similar warning on the bottom of their complaint form. I once asked our Internal Affairs commander, the person in charge of investigating police misconduct complaints, how many people our department had ever prosecuted for falsely reporting misconduct. His answer? ZERO. The reason is because, save for the rare EXTREME exaggeration, it is almost impossible to prove.

Warning?

So why is this warning posted on the form? To keep otherwise fine, upstanding citizens from making the mistake of falsely accusing an officer of the law? Of course not. If it's true that only the rarest of complaints could be prosecuted then why warn these people ahead of time? Why not let them make the false complaint and then pin them to the wall with a much-deserved arrest? Because this warning is there to scare away people who are already afraid of the police. It is strategically inserted to intimidate you into keeping your big fat mouth shut. If you hadn't already noticed the police were probably not very happy to see you to begin with.

So what do I do?

If you watched the video above you can see that many times, cops (even supervisors) run interference for "their boys". Your best bet is to compose your complaint ahead of time in a thoughtful, concise manner without ANY emotion. If you take your complaint to the department and receive the kind of blow-back the people in the video did, leave. There is no reason to get led into a "contempt of cop" charge by standing around and arguing. When you get home hit the interwebz and pull up the department website. At the very least there should be contact information for command staff members, if not the chief or sheriff himself. If you can find an email address for Internal Affairs, send your complaint there. If you are emailing the complaint do not include it as an attachment, as many government email servers will not deliver email from senders not in an address book with attachments.

The process after you send in your complaint can be a long, drawn out formal affair (typical when criminal conduct is involved), or it could be a simple telephone interview with a supervisor. In any case remember to remain calm at ALL times, even when you are threatened with making "false statements". In any case, if your complaint involves a constitutional violation (unlawful detention, search, force, etc), find an attorney experienced in 1983 complaints. This is the portion of federal law that deals with civil rights violations done under the color of law.

How to protect yourself

The best way to protect yourself is to record any interaction you can with law enforcement. That is, if you are not a suspect and being treated as such you should record your interaction. There are several smartphone apps that allow you to record and simultaneously upload directly to the internet. I use Bamuser.

Second, audio record any interactions with personnel handling your complaint, as long as it is legal to do so where you are. Most states allow you to covertly record a conversation with someone else (as long as you are part of it). Do this for telephone and in-person interviews.

Finally, remain calm and professional at all times. If you are a homeboy gangster thug (no offense if you are), then try to dress down a little and speak to the sergeant/supervisor/investigator like you would your english teacher. Be polite and non-confrontational but firm. Have in mind what you want the outcome of your complaint to be because they will usually ask you. You don't have to tell them if you intend to sue, but the complaint process and how they handle it is VERY IMPORTANT in these types of violations. For instance, if you have an obvious use of force violation by an officer and the department either ignores your complaint or dismisses it without investigation then they are complicit and are simply adding names to your lawsuit.

Police aren't getting away with anything new. They have been stepping on people's constitutional rights since their inception in this country. What has changed is the citizen's attitude toward police conduct (or misconduct). If we are ever going to get them to take this document seriously then it is going to take many more youtube videos and blogs like this, more outrage and normal people standing against it.