How do I file a complaint against a police officer in California?

What should I do right after a bad police encounter?

The first hours matter most, because details fade and evidence gets lost.

• Write it all down now: the date, time and exact location, what was said, and the officers' names, badge numbers, patrol car numbers and agency.
• Save your video and photos: back them up somewhere other than your phone. Under California law, recording an officer who is in a public place, or recording from anywhere you have a right to be, is not by itself obstruction, and on its own it is not grounds to detain or arrest you (Penal Code 148(g)).
• Get witnesses: names, phone numbers and what each person saw.
• Document injuries: photograph them over several days, get medical care, and keep every record and bill.
• Keep your paperwork: any citation, property receipt, report number or business card an officer gave you.

Justice Sentinel lets you record these details as soon as possible after the encounter, so your notes, times and evidence are already in one place when you file.

Where do I file a complaint against a California police officer?

You can file in more than one place. Many people start with the agency and add the others that fit.

1. The officer's own agency

Every California police department, sheriff's office and other agency that employs peace officers must have a procedure to investigate complaints from the public, and must make a written description of that procedure available to the public (Penal Code 832.5). Ask the agency for it, or look on its website for "internal affairs" or "professional standards." This applies to city police, county sheriff's deputies and the California Highway Patrol alike.

2. Your city or county's civilian oversight agency

Some cities and counties have an independent office that takes complaints about their police or sheriff. A few of the larger ones:

• San Francisco: the Department of Police Accountability takes complaints online, by phone, by mail or in person, and accepts anonymous complaints.
• Los Angeles (LAPD): the Police Commission's Office of the Inspector General takes complaints in person, by phone, by email and by mail.
• Los Angeles County Sheriff: the County Office of Inspector General takes complaints about the Sheriff's Department and forwards them to the Department, which investigates; the Inspector General can monitor the investigation. The Civilian Oversight Commission does not investigate complaints itself and forwards the ones it receives to the Inspector General.
• San Diego: the Commission on Police Practices takes complaints online, by phone, by email and by appointment.
• San Jose: the Office of the Independent Police Auditor takes complaints in person, by phone or online.

If your city or county is not listed, search for its name plus "police oversight" or "police auditor."

3. POST, for serious misconduct

The Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) accepts complaints from the public and can suspend or revoke an officer's certification for serious misconduct. POST says it forwards public complaints to the officer's agency for investigation, and that it can only investigate serious misconduct that could lead to decertification. It does not run criminal investigations or decide agency discipline.

POST defines serious misconduct to include:

• dishonesty in reporting, investigating or prosecuting a crime, or in reporting or investigating misconduct by another officer
• abuse of power, such as intimidating witnesses or knowingly making a false arrest
• physical abuse, including excessive or unreasonable force
• sexual assault
• bias based on race, national origin, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, housing status or another protected status
• serious or repeated violations of the law
• participating in a law enforcement gang
• failing to cooperate with a misconduct investigation
• failing to step in when another officer uses clearly excessive force

• File with POST: POST also publishes the names of officers whose certification has been suspended or revoked.

4. The California Attorney General

The Attorney General's office asks people to bring a complaint about an individual officer or deputy to the local agency first. If the agency does not act within a reasonable time, you can file with the Attorney General using its online form. Victims, witnesses, family members and concerned community members can all use it.

• File with the Attorney General: the online complaint form for local law enforcement.

The Attorney General's Police Practices Section investigates patterns or practices of unlawful policing across a whole agency (Civil Code 52.3), not single officers. Separately, the Department of Justice investigates every police shooting in California that kills an unarmed civilian (Government Code 12525.3).

5. The district attorney, if a crime was committed

If you believe an officer committed a crime and the agency does not resolve your complaint, POST advises contacting the district attorney in that county or the California Department of Justice.

Do I have to sign a warning that I could be prosecuted for a false complaint?

No. For years California agencies made people sign an advisory saying they could be prosecuted for a false complaint. On November 10, 2025, the California Supreme Court struck down that law, Penal Code 148.6(a), in Los Angeles Police Protective League v. City of Los Angeles. In February 2026 the Attorney General told agencies they can no longer require anyone to sign that warning and should remove it from their forms. Still, stick to what you saw and heard, and say when you are unsure of a detail.

What happens after I file a police complaint?

• Investigation: the agency investigates. In most cases it must finish within one year of learning of the allegation if it wants to discipline the officer, with some exceptions (Government Code 3304(d)).
• Your own statement: you have a right to a copy of the statements you gave (Penal Code 832.7(c)).
• The outcome: the agency must tell you in writing how your complaint was resolved within 30 days of its decision (Penal Code 832.7(f)). Common findings include sustained, not sustained, unfounded and exonerated.
• Records are kept: agencies must keep complaints for at least five years, or at least 15 years when misconduct is sustained (Penal Code 832.5(b)).

Is there a deadline to file a police complaint in California?

The state laws covered here set no single deadline for the complaint itself, and San Francisco's oversight agency, for example, says you can file any time. Once an agency learns of an allegation, it generally has one year to finish its investigation if it wants to discipline the officer (Government Code 3304(d)). If you face criminal charges from the encounter, consider talking to your defense lawyer before you file.

The deadlines for money damages are strict and much shorter:

• Government claim: a claim for injury to a person or to personal property must be filed with the city, county or state agency within six months; most other claims within one year (Government Code 911.2).
• Late claim: if you miss six months, you can ask permission to file late, within one year, explaining the delay (Government Code 911.4).
• The agency's answer: the agency has 45 days to act, or the claim counts as rejected (Government Code 912.4).
• Lawsuit: if the agency sends a written rejection notice, you generally have six months to sue, counted from the day the notice was personally delivered or mailed. If no proper notice is sent, you generally have two years from when your claim arose (usually, but not always, the date of the incident), not from the rejection (Government Code 945.6).

Federal civil rights lawsuits follow different rules. A lawyer can tell you which deadlines apply to you.

How do I get police reports, records and body camera video?

You can ask for them under the California Public Records Act. People often call it a FOIA request, but FOIA covers federal agencies; for California agencies it is a Public Records Act request.

• Response time: the agency must tell you within 10 days whether it has records it will release, and can extend that by up to 14 days in unusual circumstances (Government Code 7922.535).
• Misconduct records that are public: records of police shootings at a person; force that caused death or great bodily injury (serious physical injury); and sustained findings of excessive force, failing to intervene, sexual assault involving a member of the public, dishonesty in reporting, investigating or prosecuting a crime, or in reporting or investigating misconduct by another officer, bias, and unlawful arrests or searches (Penal Code 832.7(b)).
• Video of a police shooting at a person, or force causing death or great bodily injury: an investigation alone is not enough to withhold it. During an active investigation, the agency can delay release only if release would substantially interfere with that investigation, and it must tell you in writing why and give an estimated release date. The first delay can last up to 45 days from when the agency knew or should have known of the incident. A longer delay needs the same showing and a new review, with notice to you, every 30 days. After one year, the agency must show clear and convincing evidence of that interference to keep delaying. An agency can also blur parts of a video, or in some cases withhold it from the public, to protect someone's privacy. Even then, it generally must give the video on request to the person in it, or to certain family members if that person died (Government Code 7923.625).

Justice Sentinel can generate a records request letter asking for the incident and arrest reports, body and dash camera video, dispatch logs and use-of-force reports from your incident.

When should I talk to a lawyer?

Talk to a lawyer soon if you were injured, arrested or charged, had property taken or damaged, or lost a family member, or if you think you may want money damages. The six-month claim deadline goes fast. If you face criminal charges from the encounter, consider talking to your defense lawyer before you file a complaint, because what you write could come up in your case. Legal aid offices, lawyer referral services and civil rights organizations can help you find one.

How does Justice Sentinel help you file a police complaint?

Justice Sentinel is a civil rights app that helps people document police encounters and turn what happened into a formal misconduct complaint, a public records request or a court declaration signed under penalty of perjury. You can start a draft for free; the filing-ready PDF, delivery and declaration review are paid options.

• Document the encounter: answer guided questions about what happened, and the app organizes your account, times, people and evidence.
• Misconduct complaint: a formal complaint about an officer or department, written in clear, official language, that puts your account on the record with the agency, oversight bodies or investigators.
• Public records request: a request for the incident and arrest reports, dispatch logs, use-of-force reports and messages about your incident, and body and dash camera video in states where it is a public record.
• Court declaration: a written statement of the facts that you sign under penalty of perjury. Our team reviews it for completeness and formatting and returns it to you, as a paid option. Courts have their own rules for declarations, so check them, or give it to your attorney, before you file it.
• File it yourself or have it sent: start free with a draft, then choose a paid option: download a filing-ready PDF and send it yourself, or have your complaint and records request delivered for you to the agency you choose, with tracking.
• Proof of delivery: when the agency's mail server confirms it received a complaint or records request we sent for you, you get a Certificate of Service recording when, where and what was sent, which your attorney can use as proof of delivery.
• Agency directory: look up thousands of US law enforcement agencies and start a complaint against the right one.
• Encrypted attorney messaging: if your attorney also uses Justice Sentinel, messages between the two of you in its end-to-end encrypted channel are sealed in your browser before they are sent, so Justice Sentinel can't read them.