Has anyone ever filed a legitimate complaint about you? How was it received by you and what were the consequences?

A few days ago I witnessed a cop following the cage in front of it from a insanely close distance (1/4 second at most). To give a little detail I first saw it as I was sitting at the end of my drive waiting to leave. I pulled out and followed (they were going my way). This was a 4 mile long dull straight secondary with a 55MPH limit. Plenty of room to pass and for this particular time endless opportunity. I split off to a tertiary and picked up behind them on yet another secondary road, also 55 until it went through a small rural town (35mph), then another road w/55 limit (of note was both of these were greater than 2 miles long and just as straight and void of traffic as the first). Next the three of us came upon a stop sign. Car in front stops, waits for clear and pulls out. Copper stays glued to bumper without bothering to pause or slow for the stop sign. It continued to follow at an unsafe distance until the car it was tailing turned off into the parking lot of the same restaurant I was headed to.

Turns out it was the owner (friend of mine) and he let me know the cop had been on his arse for several miles before they went by my house.

The kicker was that this was a county officer from a county that was miles away from the one where I live. There is a county south of mine, and then this ones county. To make it even more suspect we left my county and entered one in another state. So this fuckstick was four counties and one state out of his area. I only noticed his county when we came to the stop sign and I was sitting close enough to read the www.douchebagcounty.com emblem on the back of his car.

My questions:

How would this be received on your watch?

If it were you what would be your reaction to being reported?


TBH I was underwhelmed by the way my phone call was fielded.
If the officer was one of your charges what would be your reaction?

Only had 4 complaints, none of them were justified.
One was to do with driving (under instruction by the driving school, so quite watertight there!)
Another was after a robbery car wrote off a crime where I picked up the a/p and did an area search a liar, he complained and it was a case of collar number in the fwin, you're investigated. I think the complaint was justified as I didn't think he was lying!
The third was an allegation I had been racist, fortunately the custody office CCTV records sound and it clearly showed him calling ME a nigger!
Can't remember what the other one was, but it was something and nothing about crime updates heh.

I don't really care about complaints, if they are justified then I will know I have done wrong before hand and will probably have brought it to someones attention. If it's a malicious or nothing complaint, then they are entitled to give it a shot I suppose.

Strange story, perhaps he is doing the American equivalent of getting a stick of seaside rock?

Another was after a robbery car wrote off a crime where I picked up the a/p and did an area search a liar, he complained and it was a case of collar number in the fwin, you're investigated.


En anglais, s'il vous plaît.

Originally Posted by Trogladyte

I complained about a copper at Peckham nick who slapped me about in front of his superior officer and colleagues. He also grabbed me by the hair and repeatedly bashed my head against the wall. It was all pretty wimpish, an I wasn't really hurt at all, but it was still disgraceful behaviour, and much more criminal that what I had (allegedly) done.

And of course they closed ranks. Left me with little respect for the force tbh, which Ihas only been resored a bit since I met some of the job chaps on here and the other place.

That might have been me. Sorry.

Originally Posted by Trogladyte

I complained about a copper at Peckham nick who slapped me about in front of his superior officer and colleagues. He also grabbed me by the hair and repeatedly bashed my head against the wall. It was all pretty wimpish, an I wasn't really hurt at all, but it was still disgraceful behaviour, and much more criminal that what I had (allegedly) done.

And of course they closed ranks. Left me with little respect for the force tbh, which Ihas only been resored a bit since I met some of the job chaps on here and the other place.

I witnessed a copper beat seven shades of shit out of a bloke in handcuffs.
It was in revenge because before he was cuffed the bloke had battered this copper a fair bit, once he was cuffed the copper got his own back.

I went to the station to complain, (didn't know either party) as I thought it was out of order. Once you have someone in custody after a simple town street fight there is no need to hurt him, I arrested people in Iraq after they shot at me but felt no need to beat them up when they were cuffed and helpless.

The desk copper kept me waiting for two hours to get someone to me to take my complaint, it was late at night and in the end I just wanted to go home. I made my complaint but never heard a thing back about it.

In ten years I probably averaged about one complaint against me per year. None were proved to be founded, although one went via the DPP, and ended up at a high court hearing in another county. The judge found in favour of the officers, especially after the complainant mistakenly decided to speak at the hearing(against legal advice), and came across very badly, to the point that the judge actually said that he wouldnt like to meet him in a dark alley.

Originally Posted by NyseriA

Strange story, perhaps he is doing the American equivalent of getting a stick of seaside rock?

What boiled my piss even worse was the response I got from the person that took the complaint...

I detailed the area, road descriptions and traffic present ( lack of) for her during the story, not after.

Her first excuse was maybe he was going on a call.
Four counties and one state out of his territory was my reply.

This was met with maybe he had an emergency at home.
Followed by my doubting he lives four counties away (most LEOs have to live in the county they serve AFAIK)

AND followed by my asking why then, did he not pass? Maybe he never had the opportunity. I reminded her that I had told her earlier this all took place on roads that are frequently used as drag strips because they're long and straight and quite often very void of traffic. He had endless opportunity to pass.

I then explained to her that for us civies having a cop tagging along behind so you cannot see his friggin' front bumper is most disturbing and has a tendency to make the average driver not pay attention to what's going on up front and it might be a good idea for her charges to avoid such dangerous tactics without cause. Especially since they're so easy to trace and complain about.

She'd thoroughly pissed me off making excuses rather than apologising for his crappy driving. Her last question sent me into orbit - "do you want me to just write a memo and leave it in his box or shall I tell his supervisor?"



I spent my yoof experiencing situations quite similar to Trog's. Got searched a lot and never busted for anything other than occasional driving offenses. It wasn't until I got to know a few officers as clients and subsequently friends that I changed my tune.

It's a job I certainly wouldn't want to do and you've all got my respect until you do something stupid like driving like a twat in front of me.

I do have to admit to not giving my name along with the complaint as the last time I did this I spent the next few weeks paranoid behind the wheel thinking I'd be getting watched like a hawk. This was after seeing two cops racing along my road at speeds I estimate to be in excess of 100 mph in a 55. They had been working a speed trap on a primary road all morning and were taking a lunch break to go have some BBQ down the other end of my road. A half hour later they came back flying again. I could see they were wearing their orange vests (used during speed trap ops as they're stepping out into traffic from their hiding places to wave speeders over.

As fate would have it one of them is a client of mine and came in few weeks later. To his credit he agreed with my filing the complaint. He had a good laugh after I admitted to spending the last few weeks being paranoid.

Originally Posted by Bigyin

And just to put my comment in context thats the only single complaint i have had in 17 years for anything

You smell of wee.

Bad breath.

Funny hair.

Make that 4 then.

I average at a couple a year, and have never had one worth pissing on. Complainants have ranged from Rodney King fantasists to whinging busy bodies.

My most imaginative complaints have been amusing, my longest lasting just bloody annoying. But getting a 163 because you were stood at the back wall of someone's garden during an arrest enquiry does grate after a while. However I do believe that if you're not getting complaints you're not doing the job properly.