NSW Police
- Types of complaints
- How do I make a complaint about a police matter?
- What happens to my complaint?
- What we can do
- What you can expect from us
Complaints about police involve a variety of issues such as:
- abusive behaviour
- use of threats or harassment
- failure to take appropriate action in circumstances of domestic violence
- excessive or unnecessary use of force
- unlawful or unreasonable arrest
- bias or mistreatment by police
- use of unfair or improper interrogation
- failure or delay in providing legal rights
- inappropriate release of confidential information
- criminal conduct.
How do I make a complaint about a police matter?
You can take your complaint to the commander at your local area command or to the Commissioner of Police or directly to us. Police at your local area command should help you to make your complaint.
If you need advice at any time, you can contact us. If we are unable to help you, we may be able to refer you to someone who can.
If you have difficulty writing a letter due to language problems or a disability, we can help. We can also arrange for translations, interpreters and other services.
Click here to find out
how to make a complaint.
What happens to my complaint?
Most complaints about police are handled by the NSW Police Force.
Our role is to independently oversee and review the way in which police deal with the more serious of these complaints and to make sure that they handle your complaint fairly and effectively. Generally, we are required to refer complaints about police officers to the NSW Police Force for action even when they are made directly to the Ombudsman. Only in special circumstances do we conduct an investigation directly.
The NSW Police Force is also required to notify us of the more serious complaints.
If your complaint is referred to the NSW Police Force for action, they must:
• make timely and effective inquiries
• keep you informed of the progress of their inquiries and advise you of the outcome
• seek your views on whether you are satisfied with the way in which your concerns have been addressed.
Your complaint can be dealt with by the police in different ways. These ways may range from informal methods of resolution to a full investigation - depending on the nature and complexity of the conduct or problem identified. If at any stage you are concerned about the way in which your complaint is being handled, contact us.
The NSW Police Force can take action to address any misconduct identified by a complaint. This may range from taking steps to improve an officer’s performance, starting proceedings to remove an officer from the NSW Police Force, or changing systems and procedures.
What you can expect from us
We will give your complaint careful attention. We will make a decision on your complaint as quickly as possible. If your complaint is made directly to us, and is not referred for investigation by police, we will tell you why. We will also advise you if the complaint is referred for investigation, and what you should expect from police. There are limits to our powers and resources, but within these limits we will do whatever we can to help you.
What we can do
We keep under scrutiny all of the more serious complaints referred to police for action, to make sure these investigations are not unnecessarily delayed. Once the NSW Police Force has dealt with your complaint, they send a full report to us. We can suggest ways they could improve their complaint handling. We can also ask them to investigate the complaint further or to reconsider the actions taken as a result of the complaint.
If we are dissatisfied with the NSW Police Force's handling of your complaint, we can report the matter to the Police Minister and/or Parliament.
Sometimes, when we refer a complaint to the police, we also advise police that we will monitor the investigation. This can also include Ombudsman officers attending interviews between complainants and police investigators.
Less serious complaints, such as those about issues such as rudeness by police officers or police delays, are mostly handled directly by the NSW Police Force without oversight from the Ombudsman. If you write to us after this and explain that you are not satisfied with the police action on your complaint, will we conduct a review.
