Note: This is for Law Enforcement Personnel Only. Members of the public who wish to submit a complaint about a police officer should use the public complaint form.
LEAs must report credible misconduct complaints or incidents to POST within two business days of receipt of complaint. Reports due to POST include any incident that results in discipline, an internal affairs investigation, or any allegations of prohibited conduct per MGL Chapter 6E as noted below:
- Bias
- Excessive Use of Force (All complaints of excessive force, including those causing serious injury or death, are presumed credible and must be reported. Further, any use of force prompting an internal affairs review is reportable, regardless of the investigation’s outcome.)
- Serious Bodily Injury or Death (including all officer-involved shootings)
- Unprofessional Conduct (policy or procedure violations, conformance to laws, conduct unbecoming, untruthfulness, prohibited conduct, incompetence or unfitness for duty, etc.). Unprofessional conduct is the only category with an exception for minor matters as outlined below.
Minor matters need not to be reported as long as the agency has implemented an informal resolution process (i.e., verbal counseling or letters of counsel), of which documentation must be provided to POST upon request.
Minor matters include discourtesy, basic work rule violations, tardiness, inattention to detail, equipment or grooming violations, and similar infractions.
The guidance on complaints and incident reporting (in the resources section on the right) further defines basic work rule violations to exclude (i) interactions with the public, (ii) the handling of finances and (iii) ethics violations. Therefore, any incident, misconduct or complaint that include any of the above (i, ii, or iii) must be reported to POST.
Questions? Email POST here.
Events
