Postage-paid forms will be available in most city buildings, so complainants can easily file by mail. Complainants, of course, may be officers as well as civilians. After it is received, the complaint will be copied and sent to the office of civilian investigation, as well as to IID, at the complainant' s request. The office of investigation will log the receipt and nature of the complaint and begin the investigation. The office of investigation will also take complaints directly.
Some complaints arise from simple misunderstandings or minor acts of rudeness or discourtesy.
No one should have an interest in resolving these sorts of issues with an overly formal and time-consuming complaint investigation or hearing. The officer may be quite willing to apologize or sit down with a complainant and explain things from his or her perspective. A complainant is probably more interested in being treated with respect by the officer and having his or her concerns acknowledged than in having the officer disciplined. Unless there is a pattern of similar conduct by the officer, neither the police department nor the Civilian Review Board should have any independent interest in a formal investigation of these kinds of complaints. This informal resolution process could range from sitting down with a mediator to a private meeting to a written apology.