August 12, 2014

After receiving many individual reports of intimidation or difficulty making a complaint to a local law enforcement agency, the ACLU of Nebraska investigated the practices of the 31 largest law enforcement agencies in Nebraska. The findings were released Tuesday in a report entitled For the Good of the Public: How Nebraska Police Complaint Processes Fail the Public. The report found most agencies had complaint procedures that did not comply with expert guidelines.

The ACLU reviewed the websites of 31 law enforcement agencies and found that only eight provided information about their complaint process online. Even fewer provided a walkthrough of the complaint process. Many agencies failed to provide a phone number on their website for taking complaints.

A smaller number of agencies were surveyed by phone. According to the report, some agencies were unwilling to discuss complaint processes over the phone unless someone wanted to file a complaint. Other agencies required someone to come to the office in-person to file a complaint, one even requiring that the visit take place during business hours.