Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Police Misconduct Report
Police Misconduct Report
http://lawcollective.org/article.php?id=96
A great deal of police misconduct occurs, but goes unreported.1 This is a shame for several
reasons:
One reason many people don’t report police misconduct they’ve seen or experienced, is that
they’re not sure how to go about it. The following material will help you provide clear and
powerful testimony, if you’re in a position to report police misconduct.
Experiments have shown that our minds don’t normally retain very many details of our
experiences.2 There’s also a myth in our society that when you see a shocking event, it’s
branded into your memory and under the right circumstances (such as hypnosis) you’ll be
able to play it back, just like a videotape. That’s rarely true. The reality is that if you’re very
angry or afraid, your mind stores fewer of the details that you’re experiencing, because your
attention is divided. For example, it’s not unusual for rape victims to find themselves unable to
remember even their assailant’s race or hair color. So, if you’re experiencing or watching
police violence or threats (which is naturally upsetting), you’ll have to concentrate carefully to
see and remember the details. You’ll do a much better job if you say in your mind exactly
what’s going on while you’re watching, the same as a sports announcer. It might sound like
this:
Now there’s five, six, no seven cops, all piling on him! They’ve got him pinned to the
ground. They’re handcuffing him. Okay, they’ve rolled him over on his back…and
what are they doing? Oh, man, they’re spraying mace or something right in his face!
He’s coughing and gagging. The cops keep on spraying him, over and over. He’s
trying to twist away, but they’re all holding him down. Damn, they’ve used up that
whole thing of spray on him—nothing more is coming out! He’s not breathing too
good either, he’s straining for air, with his mouth wide open and his head thrown
back… Whoa, that big cop just kicked him in the ribs!
If you have a cell phone with you, call a voice mail or a message machine and record your
play-by-play description. And then make a copy of your message afterward, before it gets
erased. Your “live coverage” could be very powerful evidence, both in court and in the media.3
The incident report form on the following pages was created by several lawyers,4 to help
witnesses to and victims of police misconduct record what they experienced. Naturally, no
one will be able to answer every single question on this form. The point is just to write down
all the information you do have, before it fades away. And memories evaporate quickly. The
best time to fill out the police misconduct report is within a few hours of the incident. Even by
the next day, you’ll find it much harder to remember critical details. To do a good job, you
need to be familiar with the form before you witness the incident. Otherwise, when it comes
time to fill it out, you’ll be kicking yourself because you missed lots of information that you
could’ve collected, if only you’d known it was important. So read through the police
misconduct report form now. Better yet, practice actually filling out the form, using the material
from the story Protect and Serve or your own experiences. Afterward, look at the Sample
Police Misconduct Report describing the events in Protect and Serve. If you take the time
to work with the police misconduct report in advance, you’ll get the outline of it in your head,
so that when you’re at an incident, you’ll know just what information to seek out. (You can
download the Police Misconduct Report.)
1. For more information on police misconduct and what can be done about it, see Suggested Reference Material on
Police Misconduct.
2. To learn more about providing accurate eyewitness testimony, see Elizabeth F. Loftus, Eyewitness Testimony (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1996.) It's important to know which details require greated concentration, such as
remembering the features of someone of a different race, noticing other facts when someone's brandishing a weapon, and
3. Even if you do record the event using your cellphone, you must also fill out the police misconduct report right away. The
questions in the report will help you remember material that you didn't happen to talk about while you were making your
recording. The written report and the spoken recording will each make the other stronger.
4. The lawyers who designed this police misconduct report are: Katya Komisaruk, Osha Neumann, and Bill Simpich.
Always keep the original copy of a police misconduct report you’ve filled out. Make
photocopies of your report for other people as needed. Never give away your only copy.
Deliver your information to the victim or the victim’s attorney within a week. That way, if the
victim has been charged with a crime, his criminal defense attorney will have a better chance
of heading off the case. And if the victim wants to sue the police, his civil rights lawyer won’t
miss the deadlines—some as short as two weeks—for the first steps in a lawsuit (“giving
notice of claim”).
How you use the police misconduct report depends on whether you’re a victim or a witness,
and on whether anyone expects to go to court.
(b) You’re absolutely certain that you’re not going to be charged with a crime and
you’re not going to sue the police.
Submit a complaint to the local police review organization. This may be a private
community organization, it may be part of the city or county government, or it may
be part of the police department. Normally, such an organization will have its own
report form, usually much shorter than the police misconduct report. Attach a copy
of the police misconduct report to the organization’s form, so that you provide as
much detail as possible.
(Although police review agencies rarely discipline police officers, your complaint
may be helpful to another victim in the future. That victim’s lawyer will seek out
past complaints, to show that the officer has a history of abusive behavior.)
(b) The victim is definitely not going to be charged with a crime and is not going to sue
the police.
If you don’t know the victim, try asking people in the area where the incident occurred
(neighbors, workers, students). Be persistent. As a last resort, leave notices where the
incident happened (on telephone poles, lampposts, fences, etc.), explaining that you
witnessed police misconduct and are willing to talk to the victim. Give clear instructions on
how to contact you. If you leave notices, the police may contact you, too, although you’re
certainly not required to speak with them.
How to find the criminal defense lawyer who is representing the victim:
If the victim has been charged with a crime, he should have a lawyer, either a private attorney
or the public defender. First, you’ve got to get the victim’s name. Once you have that, call the
public defender’s office and/or the office of court records,1 and ask: “Has a case been filed
against ________?” (Remember to refer to the victim of police misconduct as the “defendant,”
because you’re asking about someone who’s been charged with a crime.) If a case has been
filed, ask for the name of the defendant’s lawyer. (Make sure you’re getting the name of the
defense attorney, not the prosecutor.) Be polite but persistent. Sometimes it takes a few days
for the charges to be filed and sometimes whoever answers the phone may not be able or
willing to help. So be prepared to call back several times, or go to the courthouse or the public
defender’s office in person. (If the victim was arrested by federal officers or on federal
property, make sure you call the clerk of the U.S. District Court or the Office of the Federal
Defender.)
You want a lawyer who does mostly police misconduct cases, not one who does a little of
everything, or who handles some other area of law, like divorces or immigration. You can find
a police misconduct lawyer by calling the local offices of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG),
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU), or the local Bar Association. Don’t give up just because the first few
lawyers say they can’t help. If more than one lawyer is willing to take the case, interview them
all to see which seems best. Usually, police misconduct cases are taken on contingency. This
means that the victim doesn’t pay her lawyer up front; instead, the victim’s lawyer gets paid
only if she wins the case—that’s why police misconduct lawyers are very selective about
which cases they’ll accept. Your carefully written report may help convince a good lawyer to
take the case in the first place, as well as being useful later on.2
Note: If there is a court case, you must check with the victim’s lawyer before talking to
reporters. Obviously, publicity can be extremely helpful to someone who’s been victimized by
the police, but you should work with the victim’s attorney to determine the best way to go
about this. You need to find the right journalists to talk to, choose exactly what to say, and
decide just when to break the story. The staff of local chapters of the NLG, NAACP or ACLU
often has considerable experience in arranging publicity for political cases. You may want to
ask them to work with the victim’s lawyer on fine-tuning the media strategy, writing press
releases, etc.
1. The office in which court records are kept goes by various names, such as: the Clerk's Office, the Clerk of the Court, the
Criminal Records Division, the Records Department, etc. Be patient and expect to make several phone calls before you hit
the right office. Sometimes there's one office for civil cases and another for criminal cases. Usually, the office has a counter
or window, and you can just explain to the clerk that you're trying to figure out whether a case has been filed
against_______.
2. When you're trying to get a lawyer to take a case on contingency, dress conservatively and be extremely organized. The
lawyer will be checking you out, wondering whether you'd be helpful in preparing the case and believable in court. I f you
don't make a good impression at the first meeting, you may not get another chance.
Why is it important to notice what was said and done before the police began
threatening or hurting the victims?
Because you need to show who was at fault. The police may lie
and claim that they were just responding to the suspect’s being
violent or running away.
Were Anthony and Cecilia responsible for starting the incident because they said
something disrespectful about the police officers?
What about the other witnesses to this incident? Would they be helpful?
If you’re witnessing a police misconduct incident in real life, how close can you stand?
Should you talk to the police or to the victim?
What about taking photos or videos of police misconduct, like the person who
videotaped Rodney King being beaten?
Aren’t you taking a chance, if you report police misconduct like this, that the police will
come and harass you?
Were the search and the arrest unlawful, since the officers didn’t think Anthony and
Cecilia had committed a crime?
Yes, the search and the arrest were unlawful. The officers
didn’t even have reasonable suspicion (the amount of proof
necessary to detain a suspect), let alone probable cause
(the amount of proof necessary to search or arrest a
suspect). The officers didn’t think Anthony and Cecilia
had committed a crime, but just wanted to check on them
out of curiosity. Remember that Officer Jones says, “Let’s
see what these kids are up to.” This statement is very
significant, because it helps show that the police weren’t
justified even in detaining Anthony and Cecilia. This is a
good example of why it’s important to notice what’s said
before things get ugly.
What about when Anthony spat or when Cecilia ran away? Were those actions illegal?
Did the police use excessive force in dealing with Anthony and Cecilia?
When the police used the words, “nigger,” “faggot,” “bitch,” and “fuckin’ beaner,” was
that misconduct?
1. It would be illegal, however, to distract an officer who's in the middle of arresting someone or carrying out some other job-
related activity.
2. Hillel Ethics of the Fathers 1:14 (c. 30 B.C.E.).
American Civil Liberties Union. Fighting Police Abuse: A Community Action Manual. New
York: ACLU, 1997.
Profiles of various community groups that combat police misconduct, demonstrating
different strategies: video camera patrols, lawsuits, lobbying, etc. Which statistics are
useful and which are misleading. How to start or improve a police review organization.
Good bibliography and list of contacts. (54 pages)
Ogletree, Charles et al. Beyond the Rodney King Story: An Investigation of Police Conduct in
Minority Communities. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1995.
Very well organized presentation of the results of an NAACP study. Analysis of the types
and causes of police misconduct, followed by an array of recommendations on how to
stop it. (198 pages)
Human Rights Watch Staff, Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the
United States. Human Rights Watch, 1998. (450 pages) (This report can also be viewed or
downloaded at http://www.hrw.org/reports98/police/.)
Bernards, Neal. Police Brutality: Recognizing Stereotypes. San Diego: Greenhaven Press,
1994.
Well designed lesson in spotting assumptions and rhetoric. Uses marginal notes and
follow-up exercises to analyze contrasting viewpoints on police misconduct. Young adult
level. (36 pages)
Kennedy, Adam and Adrienne Kennedy. Sleep Deprivation Chamber: A Play. New York:
Theatre Communications Group, 1996.
Powerful play about an African-American student who is arrested and beaten up by the
police. He is falsely charged with assault and battery on an officer, and goes to trial.
Many very realistic sequences in which witnesses are rigorously cross-examined about
minute details. If you expect to be a witness in a police misconduct case, read this to
prepare yourself for testifying in court. (72 pages)
Skolnick, Jerome and James Fyfe. Above the Law: Police and the Excessive Use of Force.
New York: The Free Press, 1993.
History and psychology of police misconduct. Analysis of strategies for controlling police
misconduct. (313 pages)
There’s a great deal of reference material on police misconduct. The books listed above are easy to find in large public
libraries, up-to-date, and for the most part reasonable to read (not written for the edification of other academicians). They’re
listed in order of how useful and readable they seemed. The number of pages listed for each book is generally just the text,
Reiman, Jeffrey. The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison:
Ideology, Class and Criminal Justice. New York: Macmillan, 1990.
However, the data is often presented in such a way that it’s hard
to spot the instances of systemic discrimination. You may have to
draw on several different tables and do a little math to get useful
information. Before you start number-crunching, read some of the
books listed above to see how they analyzed the statistical
material, because you may want to follow their approach. The
agencies that publish these statistics have staff who can help you
find the right data, especially if you explain really clearly what
you’re after. Check the websites to get up-to-date contact
information (including 800 numbers)—look under “Contact” for
BJS and NCJRS, and under “About Sourcebook” for SCJS.
There’s a great deal of reference material on discrimination in the legal system. The sources listed above are easy to
find in large public libraries, up-to-date, and for the most part reasonable to read (not written for the edification of other
academicians). They’re listed in order of how useful and readable they seemed. The number of pages listed for each book is
generally just the text, not the notes, indices, bibliographies, etc.
Maintaining Confidentiality
Your lawyer is required to keep your secrets, a legal doctrine referred to as “attorney/client
privilege.” 1 This means that you can speak freely, without worrying about your lawyer being
called as a witness against you.2 In addition, everyone who works with your lawyer is bound
by the attorney/client privilege, including: other lawyers who are employed by the same office,
investigators, interpreters, paralegals, and clerical staff. They’re not allowed to share
information about you, nor can they be subpoenaed. Also, a lawyer has to protect your
confidentiality even if you don’t hire him. You might speak with one attorney, talking about the
details of your case, and then decide to hire a different lawyer. The first one has to keep your
secrets, even though you’re not working with him.
Unfortunately, it’s easy to destroy attorney/client privilege if you’re not extremely careful.
Whatever you tell your lawyer is protected, but only if you don’t tell other people. That means
you can’t share the details of your case with your family, friends, or bartender. Nor can they
sit in on meetings between you and your attorney. Once the material is no longer private
between you and your lawyer, it’s no longer privileged. Anyone other than your lawyer and
her staff can be subpoenaed—forced to testify against you or else be sent to jail for contempt.
So for their sake, as well as yours, you’ve got to restrict what you say. Besides, word gets
around and there may be someone out there who doesn’t like you—a friend of a friend of a
friend—who’d be perfectly happy to testify for the prosecution. So don’t lose control of
information that could conceivably hurt you in court.
Of course, you can tell other people when your hearings are, what you’re charged with, and
that you’re not guilty. That’s a matter of public record. But once you’ve said that much, you
have to stop. An easy way to do this is to say:
I’m sorry, but my lawyer says I can’t talk about the case, not even with my family and
closest friends. But it means a lot to me to know that you’re on my side. I hope you
can come to court and show that there’re people who believe in me.
Now, it may happen that certain family members or friends might be good witnesses on your
behalf. To include them in the case, you should first discuss with your lawyer what these
potential witnesses could testify about. If your lawyer thinks they’ll be helpful, she or her staff
will talk to them directly. This conversation—between the witness and the lawyer—will then
be protected (by the “attorney work product rule”).
Whenever you write notes or letters to your lawyer, at the top of the page put:
If you’re writing from jail, put it on the outside of the envelope, too. And remember, jail phones
are not private—the authorities can listen in—so what you say to your lawyer on a jail phone
is not protected by the attorney/client privilege. If you’re in jail, wait until your lawyer visits you
in person before disclosing any private information.
1. Of course, there are exceptions. Your lawyer is required to act if he knows you're committing perjury (see How Much to
Tell Your Lawyer). Also, if you tell your lawyer—seriously—that you're planning to injure someone, the lawyer may be
required to inform the police (so avoid stupid jokes). Finally, if your lawyer ends up in litigation with you, he's allowed to
testify. For example, if you sue your lawyer, or if your lawyer becomes your co-defendant in a criminal case, the lawyer is
2. There are a few other privileges, similar to the attorney/client privilege. For example, the priest/penitent privilege prohibits
religious professionals (priests, ministers, rabbis and imams) from testifying about matters you've confided to them. And in
most jurisdictions, the doctor/patient privilege prevents medical professionals (doctors and psychotherapists, as well as the
nurses and other staff who work with them) from testifying about what you've said as a patient. However, there isn't a
privilege that relates to journalists. A reporter or photographer can be subpoenaed, along with her notes, photos, tapes, film,
etc. Some states haev passed "shield laws," that allow professional journalists to withhold the identity of a source (though
not the information provided by the source), but the trial judge may still choose to compel disclosure.