Advice On Filing Complaints

[greytiger]

First, thank you very much for this site. Recently I was stopped for speeding by a sheriff's deputy in Madison County, Illinois. He was very hostile and tried to intimidate me, but I kept my composure. When I got home, I immediately typed up everything that happened. I had a traffic lawyer handle the ticket; in a week the ticket will be off my record.

I read your advice on filing complaints. First, though I emailed the Sheriff directly to briefly describe the situation and then ask if he would mind a letter from me with more detail. No response. Then I emailed a captain with basically the same information. No response. I called a personal injury lawyer who didn't want to file it for me.

This happened one mile from my house, and so I definitely want resolution. My next move is to send the entire complaint (along with both emails, the sheriff's own mission statement in which I have highlighted key phrases, and my statement) certified mail, as you suggest, to the sheriff himself.

The deputy I dealt with is a coward. My only concern is being arrested or sued. I realize there is probably a very slim chance of either, but I'd like your opinion nonetheless. I pared my statement down to three pages, and stuck with the facts, nothing personal. What do you think? Thanks.--Gray

[WaTcHeR]

Sending the letter "certified mail" will defiantly get you a response back from someone at the Sheriffs department. I usually get letters back thanking me for being a concerned citizen and for taking time out to address the alleged incident.

Don't expect too much to become of your complaint, other than having it go in the officers file and you having some sort of peace of mind, because of how a "public servant" treated you.

As far as being arrested, people have been killed for filing a complaint and even been pulled over and had drugs planted on them for doing their civic duty. You have already e-mailed your complaint to the sheriff and I'm sure he's read it and passed it along to the deputy. It might be good to go ahead and send your complaint certified mail, just for some type of proof of what is transpiring between you and law enforcement.

As far as being sued, here's a story from California where it was sort of scary there for awhile to even file a police complaint.

policecrime.proboards28.com/index.cgi?board=talk1&action=display&thread=1147789802

[greytiger]

Watcher, thank you. I had an unexpectedly positive response. I sent it certified mail to the Sheriff himself. The next day I got a call from a captain who supervises these guys. He was very grateful because he said, "Usually people say nothing to us and then talk about us behind our backs." He even said I was honest and that I had gotten the Sheriff's attention. He said technically the deputy hadn't violated their policies, but he would definitely follow up on with him. He said "he'll be upset, not mad, upset!" and told me he probably wouldn't follow up with me about it. I was very impressed with the captain. The deputy was an idiot.... Funny enough, though, Watcher, wouldn't you know that less than two weeks later I saw burnt grass truck tires in the part of my lawn where the mailbox (with my street number) is. I wonder
who did that?

Also, my wife and I went to a wedding where we happened to sit with a younger couple at the reception. The guy was training to be a cop. I smiled and told him I had just filed a complaint against a cop. He asked me about it, and I told him. Then he asked the cop's name. When I told him, he smiled and said, oh yeah, everyone knows him. He pisses off a lot of people in the community.

Thanks for this website. I would not have confronted this guy were it not for you, and it is one of the best things I've ever done.--GT

[KC]

It's sad when a public agency doesn't have some sort of a policy to be nice to the citizens that pay their paycheck.

[WaTcHeR]

I'm glad things are working out. Citizens shouldn't be afraid to file a complaint against a public servant "police officer." Actually I would prefer to call police officers "peace officers," but I don't see too many of those in law enforcement today.

Well at least you got the sheriff's "attention. Sadly that is as far as the complaint will go, the buck stops at the sheriff. If you have a good sheriff you will usually have good cops, if you have a bad sheriff you will have bad cops working under him. The officers that work under the sheriff, are a reflection of that sheriff. Thank goodness sheriff's are elected officials.

You mentioned the captain said, "Usually people say nothing to us and then talk about us behind our backs." I wonder if that is really true? One day in the future you might request from that department, all complaints filed on officers in the last two years and see if that captain is actually telling the truth. I would sort of doubt he is.

I have filed about 5 complaints and have been before a Grand Jury concerning bad cops. So far no one has retaliated against me yet. Actually when I confront most of the cops in my town today and even the ones that I had filed against, they will not look me in the eyes. These officers are cowards and unable to make eye contact with me and my guess is, they know they did wrong and they got in trouble. I hate liars, specially cops that lie!

The complaints I filed in the past, four of those cops were fired or have quit and one sits in jail. I had nothing to do with those cops getting fired, forced to quit or being in jail. I think I may have made the public a little more aware about these officers and they were watched a little more closer and were found to be bad cops, like I had indicated years earlier.

I've came in contact with two ex officers and let me tell you, their demeanor is totally different. They don't have that "power" anymore and there just like regular citizens. Actually they take the long way around me, if they see me and they should.