City of OKC

Recommendation No. 17:

The City should facilitate the process of filing a complaint against officers.

The City should facilitate the process of filing a complaint against officers by accepting complaints throughout the City and adding an electronic way to anonymously file a complaint, such as through a web form.

Project Status: 80% Implemented

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Project Details from Consultant Report

Currently, the complaint process is primarily conducted through Professional Standards at OKCPD, with a variety of methods for obtaining a complaint form:

Formal complaint forms, requiring the signature of the complainant may be taken 24-hours a day at any division, or at a police facility (including the Information Desk and Headquarters) and City Hall, regardless of where the alleged incident took place. Formal complaint forms are available on the department’s website or may be mailed to citizens, if requested, and can be returned by mail or in person.

The "Contact Us" page of the OKCPD website informs the public that they can obtain a complaint form at any precinct or download one directly. Additionally, community members are instructed to call 911 to speak with a supervisor.

OKCPD should eliminate the practice of requiring a signature (which appears on every page of the complaint form) or an end affirmation, which can only raise concerns about retaliation for filing a complaint against an officer.

[I]t should be remembered that complainants and witnesses are usually not trained observers. What they observe and experience represents an individual, and therefore potentially limited, perspective on events. Statistically, most people do not like to complain and they encouraged what they experienced from their perspective without the worry of being punished if a formal investigation results in a finding that they were mistaken as to some of the facts.

Second, the City should make the complaint form available at other City facilities and create a clear process that external complaints received by City Council, the Mayor’s Office, the City Manager’s Office, or any other city access point are all forwarded to Professional Standards to consolidate complaints and ensure they are reviewed.

Finally, although anonymous complaints are permitted by OKCPD, which is good, doing so requires calling, mailing, or dropping off the filled PDF complaint form. There should be an on-line option to submit a complaint anonymously. In keeping with this concept, the end affirmation and signature line on every page of the complaint form should be removed. Requiring such affirmations raise concerns about retaliation for filing a complaint against an officer.