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

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. Minnesota law allows recording a conversation you are part of (Minn. Stat. 626A.02). The Minnesota Supreme Court has held that the obstruction law covers physically getting in the way, not verbal criticism of an officer (State v. Krawsky, 1988).
• 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 Minnesota 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 police chief and sheriff must adopt a misconduct policy identical or substantially similar to the POST Board's model policy (Minn. Stat. 626.8457). Under that policy the agency accepts and investigates all misconduct complaints, made in person, by phone, in writing or online, and you may bring a lawyer or other representative. You can stay anonymous, though that may affect the investigation. You will be asked to sign the complaint; under state law an officer cannot be made to give a formal statement unless there is a signed written complaint (Minn. Stat. 626.89). Separately, Minnesota law makes it a crime to report police misconduct to an officer whose job includes investigating it, knowing the report is false (Minn. Stat. 609.505, subd. 2). The Minnesota Supreme Court limited that law to knowingly false, defamatory statements (State v. Crawley, 2012), so an honest complaint is not a false report.

2. The POST Board

The Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Board licenses every officer in Minnesota. Anyone can file a complaint with it on its form. It can revoke, limit or condition a license, or censure or reprimand an officer, for violations of its standards of conduct, which include unreasonable or excessive force, failing to step in or report excessive force, lying to a court or agency, discrimination, and some crimes. It does not employ officers and cannot fire them. Complaints about rudeness or how a case was handled are generally outside its authority. If it decides a complaint is outside its authority, it will tell you and take no further action. It does not pass the complaint on, so file it with the officer's agency yourself. It keeps you confidential unless you allow otherwise, but the officer can see what you wrote.

• POST Board complaints: the Board's complaint form and how it reviews complaints.
• Misconduct reports: yearly POST reports on officer misconduct, by agency.

3. A city oversight office

• Minneapolis: the Office of Police Conduct Review takes complaints about Minneapolis police online, by form at a precinct, by mail or in person. Contact information is optional, you can file for someone who needs help, and forms come in seven languages.
• St. Paul: the Police Civilian Internal Affairs Review Commission takes complaints online, on its form by mail or email, or in person by appointment (call 651-266-8970 for help or to have a form mailed to you), and recommends discipline to the chief. A complaint needs your signature and a description of what happened.

4. Deaths and discrimination

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's Force Investigations Unit investigates cases where an officer's use of force kills or seriously injures someone, when the local agency asks it to. By law it also investigates all allegations of criminal sexual conduct by peace officers. It gives its findings to a prosecutor, usually the county attorney, without a recommendation. For deaths, it posts public investigative data within 30 days after a case goes inactive (Minn. Stat. 299C.80). The Attorney General can take part in a criminal case when a county attorney asks, and must prosecute when the governor asks in writing (Minn. Stat. 8.01). If you were treated differently because of race, disability, sex or another protected trait, you can file a charge with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights within one year (Minn. Stat. 363A.28).

What happens after I file a police complaint?

• 30-day target: under the model policy, the investigation should be finished within 30 days unless the agency finds good cause for more time, and you must be told of any extension. Soon after being assigned, the investigator must give you their name, business phone number and the status of your complaint.
• You hear the outcome: the agency must tell you the result as soon as practical. If it decides not to investigate, you have 30 days to send more information.
• Minneapolis: the city assigns your complaint a case number within 3 days and tells you the number within 7 days (only if you gave contact information). It decides within 30 days whether to investigate, refer or dismiss the complaint, and aims to finish an investigation within 180 days. The chief makes the final decision, and you can check status online with your case number.
• POST Board: its complaint committee usually meets every 30 to 60 days. If your complaint is outside the Board's authority, you are usually told within 30 to 60 days. Complaints it takes up can take much longer, and the Board says it cannot give an exact time frame.

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

The current agency and oversight pages covered here state no deadline for the complaint itself. State law only requires agencies to keep routine body camera video for 90 days. Filing a formal complaint about the incident means the video must be kept at least one year, and anyone recorded in the video can ask in writing for it to be kept up to 180 more days (Minn. Stat. 13.825), so filing sooner helps keep the video. If you face criminal charges from the encounter, consider talking to your defense lawyer before you file.

The deadlines for money damages:

• Notice to a city or county: within 180 days after the injury is discovered, or within one year for a wrongful death, stating the time, place, circumstances and amount demanded (Minn. Stat. 466.05).
• Notice to the state: to the Attorney General within 180 days after the injury is discovered, or within one year for a wrongful death (Minn. Stat. 3.736).
• Assault, battery, false imprisonment and similar intentional torts: two years (Minn. Stat. 541.07).
• Other injury to a person or their rights, such as negligence: six years (Minn. Stat. 541.05).
• Federal civil rights (Section 1983): six years in Minnesota, the federal appeals court held in 2021.

A lawyer can tell you which deadlines apply to you.

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

Ask under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. People often call it a FOIA request, but for Minnesota agencies it is a data request.

• Response time: requests for public data must be handled promptly, and inspecting public data is free (Minn. Stat. 13.03). Data about yourself must be given right away if possible, and within 10 business days at most (Minn. Stat. 13.04).
• Complaints are public: the existence and status of any complaint against an officer is public, whether or not it led to discipline, and so is the final discipline with its reasons (Minn. Stat. 13.43).
• Body camera video: it is generally private, but anyone recorded can get a copy, with others who did not consent blurred. It is public when it shows a firearm discharge or force causing substantial bodily harm (Minn. Stat. 13.825). While a criminal investigation is active, the video can be withheld as investigative data (Minn. Stat. 13.82, subd. 7).
• Deaths from police force: the family may inspect the video within five days of asking, and the agency must release it publicly within 14 days unless the chief says in writing it would interfere with the investigation. The agency can refuse the inspection, in writing, if it would interfere with an active investigation; the family can then ask a district court (Minn. Stat. 13.825, subd. 2(c)).
• Retention: at least 90 days; at least one year if the video shows an officer firing a gun on duty or force causing substantial bodily harm, or if a formal complaint was made about the incident; and indefinitely if it shows an officer using deadly force. If you are in the video, you can ask in writing for it to be kept up to 180 more days (Minn. Stat. 13.825).

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 180-day notice deadline, and the 90-day video retention, go 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.