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

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. Illinois law says no officer may hinder or stop anyone from recording an officer doing their duties in a public place, though officers can still take reasonable steps to keep a scene safe (50 ILCS 706/10-20). The eavesdropping law covers secretly recording private conversations.
• 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 an Illinois police officer?

You can file in more than one place. Many people file with the agency and with the state Board.

1. The officer's own agency

Every police department and sheriff's office takes complaints about its own officers, usually through internal affairs or professional standards. Since the SAFE-T Act, you cannot be required to support a complaint with a sworn affidavit or other legal paperwork, though union contracts signed before that rule may still require one for some ranks (50 ILCS 725/3.8). Every record of a misconduct complaint, investigation and decision must be kept permanently (50 ILCS 205/25).

2. The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board

The Board certifies every officer in Illinois, and any person can report an officer to it, including about conduct toward someone else. You can report confidentially (50 ILCS 705/6.3) or anonymously, and the Board must accept and investigate anonymous reports (50 ILCS 727/1-35). It can decertify an officer for excessive force, failing to intervene, tampering with body or dash camera footage, false statements or fabricated evidence, or other unprofessional conduct harmful to the public, and decertification is automatic after a felony conviction. You choose whether the Board may share your identity, and you can ask in writing for the status of its review.

• Make an allegation: the Board's online Notice of Alleged Violation form. It asks you to certify that what you say is true.
• Look up an officer: the Board's public officer lookup.

3. Chicago: the Civilian Office of Police Accountability

COPA takes complaints about Chicago Police online, by mail, in person, by phone, through 311, or at any police district station, which must forward them. It investigates excessive force, firearm discharges, deaths or serious injuries in custody, improper searches and seizures, bias-based verbal abuse, sexual misconduct and similar allegations, and sends the rest to the department's Bureau of Internal Affairs. It takes anonymous complaints, you do not need the officer's name or badge number, and a family member or lawyer can file for someone who cannot.

• File with COPA: COPA's complaint page and online form.

4. The Attorney General, deaths and crimes

The Illinois Attorney General can sue a police department over a pattern or practice of unconstitutional conduct (15 ILCS 205/10), but its Civil Rights Bureau does not represent individuals. When a death involves an officer, state law generally requires that the investigators not work for that officer's agency. There are limited exceptions: State Police investigators from a different unit can investigate, and a local agency may use its own investigator for a crash death. The investigators report to the county State's Attorney (50 ILCS 727/1-10). If you believe an officer committed a crime, contact the State's Attorney.

What happens after I file a police complaint?

• Chicago: within five business days you get a letter saying whether COPA or Internal Affairs will investigate. If an investigation runs past six months, you are told why, and you get the outcome by certified mail.
• State Board: it sends you its decision, unless you filed anonymously and gave no way to reach you.
• Reported to the state: agencies must report sustained misconduct with serious discipline, or an officer who resigns during an investigation, to the Board within 10 days, and must check that record before hiring (50 ILCS 705/9.2).

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

COPA says there is no deadline except for excessive force, which must be charged within five years. Body camera video is kept only 90 days unless it is flagged, for example by a complaint, so filing sooner helps keep it. If you face criminal charges from the encounter, consider talking to your defense lawyer before you file.

The deadlines for money damages are strict:

• Lawsuit against a city, county or its officers: within one year of the injury (745 ILCS 10/8-101).
• Personal injury, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution (state-law claims): two years (735 ILCS 5/13-202), but only against someone who is not a local government or its employee. If the officer works for a city, county or other local government, the one-year limit above applies instead.
• Federal civil rights (Section 1983): two years in Illinois.
• Claims against the State: for personal injury, within one year either file the claim itself in the Court of Claims, or file written notice with both the Attorney General and the Clerk of the Court of Claims. If you do neither, the claim must be dismissed and is permanently barred (705 ILCS 505/22-1, 22-2).

A lawyer can tell you which deadlines apply to you.

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

Ask under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Since 2026, put an emailed request in the body of the message, not in an attachment.

• Response time: the agency must respond within five business days, and can extend once by five more. Silence counts as a denial (5 ILCS 140/3). You can ask the Attorney General's Public Access Counselor to review a denial within 60 days after the denial (5 ILCS 140/9.5).
• Complaint and discipline records: an Illinois appeals court held that Chicago's complaint files are not exempt as a whole, and the final outcome of any case where discipline was imposed is public (5 ILCS 140/7).
• Body camera video: kept 90 days, and at least two years if flagged by a complaint, a use of force or firearm discharge, a death or serious injury, or an arrest. Flagged recordings can be released, and the subject of the encounter or their lawyer can request the video, though other FOIA exemptions can still apply (50 ILCS 706/10-20).

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 one-year deadline to sue a city or county 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.