Submit Police Compliment or Complaint

The Wilmington Police Department is dedicated to providing the highest quality police services to residents and visitors of Wilmington. Your compliments and complaints are important to the Wilmington Police Department and we appreciate you taking the time to communicate with us.

Any complaint against an officer must be filed within 60 days of the alleged violation unless mitigating facts are present.

Compliment/Complaint Process

It is the policy of the WPD to handle public compliments/complaints in the following manner;

The information will be forwarded to the employee’s supervisor.
The information will be then forwarded to the employee.
The information will be placed in the employee’s personnel file.
In some cases we will use this for newsletters.

Complaint Investigative Process

Upon receipt of a complaint, the WPD will assign the case for investigation. Generally, complaints of a routine nature will be assigned to the employee’s supervisor. More serious or complex matters will be investigated by another supervisor.

A complaint is defined as:

An allegation of circumstance(s) amount to a specific act or omission which, if proven true would amount to employee misconduct.
An expression of dissatisfaction with a policy, procedure, practice, philosophy, or service level.
A disagreement over the validity of a traffic infraction or criminal citation is not a complaint. Such disagreements should be directed to the proper court having jurisdiction in the matter.

Investigators will:

Attempt to contact the complainant, the accused employee, and witnesses.
Examine physical evidence.
Review reports and records.
Thoroughly document the facts surrounding the incident and allegation.

The investigator’s report is generally submitted to the Chief of Police within 30 days of the report where it will be reviewed for completeness and objectivity.

Disposition of the Investigation

The WPD uses the following terminology when resolving complaints;

Founded: The facts substantiate the specific allegation(s) made or other misconduct.
Unsubstantiated; Insufficient facts exist to either prove or disprove the allegation (s) made.
Unfounded: The facts substantiate the allegation(s) made are false.

Disciplinary Action

If the investigation indicated an employee has committed an offense, under WPD policy and procedure disciplinary action will be taken commensurate with the severity of the offense (mitigating circumstances may be considered). After final disposition is reached by management, appropriate action will be taken. Please keep in mind that we have a disciplinary process in place and our officers have due process rights too. Disciplinary action may involve verbal counseling, a form of written discipline, loss of pay, remedial training, suspension, or termination.

Who Can File a Complaint

Normally, the person most directly affected by the alleged conduct should be the person to complain. For example, a complaint of rudeness to a driver should be made by the driver, not a passenger in the vehicle. Exceptions would include a parent filing a complaint for a minor child or similar situations. Under certain circumstances, third party complaints will be accepted.

Filing out the Form

Describe the conduct of the employee that was found to be improper, rather than saying the employee was rude. Explain how the employee was rude by:

Providing the specific words or phrases used
Describing the employee’s tone of voice
Citing particular acts of rudeness

Anonymous Complaints

Although anonymous complaints are investigated, the investigations are less likely to reveal all the facts surrounding an alleged incident when the investigator is unable to contact the complainant. The WPD encourages individuals with allegations of misconduct by our employees to identify themselves and submit to an interview.

Filling False Complaint on an Officer

Under Ohio Law, it is a crime to file a false complaint against an officer. All complaints are investigated and if it is determined to be a false complaint where the complainant knew he/she filed a false complaint charges against that individual will be pursued.

Type of Submission * Required
Name
First Last
Email * Required
Phone * Required
Address
Street Address Address Line 2 City State ZIP Code
Date of incident
MM slash DD slash YYYY
Time of incident

: Hours

Minutes

AM/PM AM/PM
Location of Incident
Street Address Address Line 2 City State ZIP Code
Name of staff member

Name of staff member if known.
Name of staff member

Name of staff member if known.
Cruiser Number

Cruiser number if known.
Incident Description
Please describe the incident your compliment or feedback relates to, including location or other details that can help us document the situation.
Feedback * Required
Positive or negative, please provide feedback of the incident.
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Comments
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