Police misconduct complaint form

What is the POST Commission?

The Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission certifies police officers, which allows them to work in law enforcement in Massachusetts. The POST Commission can limit or revoke (cancel) an officer's certification if they haven't met certain requirements or if they engage in certain misconduct. To carry out that mission, the Commission is required to collect and review complaints about police officers. The information you provide helps us decide whether to limit or revoke certifications. Use this form to make a complaint about a police officer.

What happens once I submit a complaint?

When you submit a complaint, we review your complaint, notify the agency about a complaint against one of their police officers, and either decide to investigate immediately or wait for the agency to investigate first.

We may share the information in your complaint with the agency to help them investigate. This could include your contact information, description of the complaint, and any files you included.

Then we can investigate the matter more or accept the agency's decision for the police officer.
If we investigate and decide to take action against the police officer, we can suspend or decertify the police officer, or require them to take additional training.

What counts as “misconduct”?

The POST Commission is responsible for collecting and reviewing complaints related to the following categories:

Discrimination
Excessive force
Serious injury or death
Improper use of a weapon
Unprofessionalism

Optional questions

Many of the questions asked below are optional. However, some require an answer. Questions that must be answered are marked with a red asterisk (*). If you submit the form without answering one of the required questions, the webpage will let you know which questions still need an answer, and then let you submit again.

Who will read this information?

Here are some things you should know before you submit. To follow up on your complaint, the POST Commission might need to provide copies of this form to other agencies or people, including any agency or officer you list on this form. At some point, some of the information you submit may become available to the public via a public records request. This complaint form is different than complaints that are used to bring lawsuits or criminal charges, and submitting it will not begin a court case.

Do you understand and agree to the information above?

Yes, I understand and agree

Event description

When did this happen?

If you can't remember the exact date, write your best guess and explain more in the fields below

Where did this happen?

Describe the event

Describe what happened in as much detail as possible, including how each person was affected.

What kinds of misconduct is this complaint about? You can choose more than one.

DiscriminationComplaints about unfair treatment because of race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, mental or physical disability, immigration status or socioeconomic or professional levelExcessive forceComplaints about excessive, prohibited or deadly forceSerious injury or deathActions which resulted in serious injury or deathUnprofessionalismImproper use of a weaponOther (explain)

File uploads

Please upload any video, image, or audio files that you think will help the POST Commission investigate your complaint. If you’re concerned with staying anonymous, use a metadata-scrubbing tool like MAT2 on all of your files before uploading: https://metadata.systemli.org/

Criminal or Civil Complaint

You don't need to answer the question below, but the more information you give us, the better we can respond

Do you know if this incident is related to an existing case that a law enforcement agency is investigating?

Yes, a criminal caseYes, a civil caseI don’t knowPrefer not to answer

Police officers in complaint

It's okay if you don't know the answers to all the questions. Please answer as many questions as you can.

Officer #1

Officer agency

Officer police department input and input mode toggle

First name

Middle name

Last name

Badge/ID number

Description of Police Officer

If you don't know the police officer's name or badge number, help us identify them by adding other info like their cruiser number.

People affected by misconduct

Are you reporting this on behalf of yourself or someone else?

Myself

Someone else

Witnesses

Your information

You can choose not to answer any of these questions. You can also make a complaint without giving your name. But, in that case, the POST Commission won't be able to reach out to you to ask more questions, so please provide as much information about the event as you can.

First name

Middle name

Last name

Suffix

Phone number

Actions you’ve already taken

Select any actions you’ve taken to address the complaint

I called 911I contacted the Attorney General's OfficeI filed a complaint with the agencyI filed a police reportI hired a lawyer or attorney to represent meI previously contacted the POST CommissionOther (explain)

POST Commission