Your handy guide to following up on abuse of power

article by Evan Koser

So you’ve just walked out of your favorite convenience store holding a bag of goods and a law enforcement official stops you for ‘suspicious activity’ – you know you’ve done nothing illegal, but the officer insists that the stop is routine and that “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.”

Knowing you’ve committed no crime, but unaware of your rights, you submit to a physical pat down. After a short time, the officer permits you to move along and you finish going about your day without incident. You’re one of the fortunate ones. If you were living in Chicago or New York, what happened to you could have happened to anybody, especially if they were a young black male. Then you may not have been so lucky.

Suppose you instead mouthed off to the officer or attempted to resist being frisked–what then? What happens when an officer roughs you up and decides to let you live to tell the tale? You tell the tale.

Before blasting the cop on social media, now is your only chance to act ‘within the system’ to seek recourse. You have several weeks to file a report, but the likelihood of the incident being investigated plummets the longer you wait. Besides police reports, you could also file a criminal complaint against the officer, and you could even bring a civil suit against him (in theory). Criminal complaints, however, are less likely to achieve the desired result. In fact, only 33% of officers are ever convicted and of those convicted, only 12% are incarcerated. Compare that to rates among the general population of 68% and 48%, respectively.

Cops are convicted for the same crimes at half the rate and put behind bars only a fourth as often as you or me.

Although a person can use any one or a combination of these avenues, the procedures will vary by state. Be aware: some departments will not conduct an investigation while there is a pending criminal complaint against the officer.

The First Step

Write everything down. As soon as you get home or to a safe location, write down exactly what you remember. The officer’s name (hopefully you got it), badge number, the date/time of the incident, and the nature of the misconduct against you. What follows is a list of examples of misconduct; it is by no means exhaustive and the names for some acts vary by state:

• Aiding another officer to violate a rule
• Altering information on official documents
• Appropriating property
• Filing a false report (against you)
• Destruction of reports or records
• Drinking on duty
• False arrest
• Harassment
• Malicious threats or assault
• Narcotics
• Racial or ethnic discrimination
• Rough and careless handling of departmental equipment
• Sexual harassment, assault
• Soliciting or accepting a bribe

You want to address the who, what, when, where, and how of the incident to the best of your recollection. Do not make up facts. If you don't know, A lie in a report could get the report tossed out, could tarnish your reputability in any future reports, and could even land charges against you for filing a false report. If you cannot recall something, do not make it up.

Your actual, physical first step should carry you straight through the front door of the offending officer’s department. If you fear reprisal from the officer or the department, bring a friend. It never hurts to have a corroborating witness. You’ll need an official report form in order to mail it in. Some precincts may have websites which allow you to ‘contact’ them, but unless you can print the form out, you’re better off picking up a hard copy. These public officials are already swamped in paperwork and are far less likely to take online complaints seriously.

You want to file this report promptly and professionally; what you file will go on the officer’s record as an incident report. It is important to remember that although you may feel outraged, your report must be free of emotion or emotive expression. While you certainly want to convey your outrage over the officer’s disregard for your civil liberties, you want to avoid emotionally-charged language as it only damages your report’s legitimacy in the eyes of the department. Carefully and concisely lay out what happened, as it happened, and what restitution you seek (suspension, termination, etc).

Some things to note:

• If you managed to record video, audio, or capture photos, be sure to include a copy of this material along with your report.
• One way to be sure a department doesn’t “misplace” your report is to have the mail-in copy certified at a notary. In doing this, you create an officially recognize paper trail of the report’s existence within the post system and you place the burden on the department to respond.
• If you were with someone, use them as a witness. As long as their story corroborates with yours, it can only bolster your claim.
• If you know an officer has a pattern of abuse, say as much in your report. You can request a copy of an officer’s ‘internal log’ if you want a record of complaints filed against them in the past.
• You may not be the first person to file a complaint against an officer. More complaints = more scrutiny.
• Send a Carbon Copy of the complaint to your mayor or State/Federal representatives. They’ll likely ignore it, but there’s always a chance you’ll spark a fire.
• Consider sending one to the local papers, too.

What Happens Next?

An 'intake officer' will conduct a review of your complaint to determine whether the allegations, if true, would constitute severe (as opposed to minor) misconduct. Still, your complaint might be dismissed for several other reasons besides the misconduct being categorized as minor. For example, a determination that your allegations are intentionally and materially false will lead to your complaint being dismissed (and possibly result in charges against you). Complaints deemed trivial or frivolous will also be dismissed.

You want to remember that although the department is tasked with upholding the law, their primary concern is maintaining the credibility, integrity, and legitimacy of the department. Unless your complaint alleges a gross violation of your person (i.e., you were sexually assaulted, paralyzed), a department will mostly likely act in self-interest. In fact, unless the misconduct was severe in nature, their likely response to “informally investigate” the matter will also be a dead-end. Formal investigations carry the most weight and are thus what you should aim to achieve.

After some time and deliberation, you’ll receive a response from the department which will contain something similar to the following:

• SUSTAINED – The investigation disclosed sufficient evidence to clearly prove some or all of the allegations made in the complaint and disciplinary action could result against the officer.(s)
• NOT SUSTAINED – The investigation failed to discover sufficient evidence to clearly prove or disprove the allegation(s) made.
• EXONERATED – The investigation reveals that the acts did occur, but the actions taken were justified, lawful and proper.
• UNFOUNDED – The investigation indicated that the alleged act(s) did not occur.

You may be contacted by the department to come in for an interview, but unless you’ve forgotten to provide the evidence they seek or a substantive detail in the report, explain that the complaint contains all relevant information. There should be no need for you to make any further appearances if your report is thorough enough.

Playing the Game

Never feel discouraged. Even if an internal complaint is not sustained, it usually stays on the officer’s internal record. In theory, an officer with a large number of complaints should come under closer scrutiny, though we see that even this check against power can fail. Still, a complaint puts the department on notice of an officer’s misbehavior. The more complains a department racks up, the more likely it is that they’ll come under too much scrutiny to avoid.

Granted, all of this procedure falls entirely on the discretion of the very department for which the offending officer works. It would be impossible for you to know whether your complaint is being investigated seriously or without bias. Nationwide, only about a third of complaints filed against officers ever see any success. Still, as more Americans file complaints, a larger pool of LEOs will come under scrutiny along with their departments.

#law #police-state #police-brutality #know-your-rights #criminal-justice #excessive-force #civil-liberties #justice-system