We receive your complaint in person, online, by mail or by phone.

File a police complaint

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See police complaint terms to know

Within 3 days of receiving your complaint

We file your complaint and assign it a case number.

Within 7 days of receiving your complaint

We notify you of your case number by email or mail. If you did not provide any contact information, we are not able to send your case number.

Your case number is helpful if you want to contact us about your complaint in the future. You can also use it to check the status of your case.

View the officer complaint status lookup dashboard

Within 30 days of receiving your complaint

We review your complaint and gather evidence. We may contact you during this step if we need more information. If we see other possible policy violations, we add them to the case to consider.

Within 30 days of receiving your complaint

We decide how to route the case. We do one of the following:

• Investigate the case
• Refer the case
• Dismiss the case

Next steps for referred or dismissed cases

If your complaint is not about a Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) officer, we may refer your case to another agency.

If coaching or training is needed instead of discipline, we refer the case to MPD for review. This is known as non-disciplinary corrective action.

When we refer cases to MPD for review:

MPD decides whether to take corrective action or refer the decision back to us.

For cases we refer or dismiss:

Our involvement ends with this step. We only move forward with step 4 for cases we decide to investigate.

Learn more about referral, dismissal, and non-disciplinary corrective action

See data on routing decisions

Within 180 days of us filing your complaint

We complete an investigation and write a summary report of the evidence.

An investigation may include:

• Gathering more evidence
• Speaking with you and any witnesses
• Speaking with the involved officer(s)

If the investigator needs more than 180 days, they must ask the OPCR director for an extension. If approved, the OPCR director decides on a new deadline.

Within 15 days of completing the report

The OPCR director reviews the case file and does one of the following:

• Approves the report and forwards the case file for panel review.
• Asks for more investigation and gives the investigator a new deadline.
• Re-routes the case for referral, dismissal, or non-disciplinary corrective action based on information gathered during the investigation.

If the case is re-rerouted

If the OPCR director re-routes the case, our involvement ends with this step. We only complete step 6 for cases we forward for panel review.

Learn more about referral, dismissal, and non-disciplinary corrective action

Within 30 days of the OPCR director approving the report

A review panel of three civilians and two members of MPD leadership meet to review and discuss the case file.

The civilian members of the review panel serve on the Community Commission on Police Oversight (CCPO).

Learn about the CCPO

Within 3 business days of the panel’s meeting

• The panelists make a decision on if the officer(s) violated MPD policy and procedure.
• If yes, they recommend discipline for the officer(s).
• If the panelists cannot make a decision, they can ask us for further investigation.

See data on review panel recommendations

Within 7 days of the review panel's recommendation

The chief receives the case file and recommendation.

Within 15 days of receiving the case file and review panel’s recommendation

The Chief can ask to investigate further if needed to make a decision.

Within 30 days of receiving the case file and review panel’s recommendation

The Chief reviews the information and makes a decision about the case.

• If the Chief is considering disciplining the focus officer(s), the case continues to the Chief's decision (step 8).
• If the Chief is not considering disciplining the focus officer(s), the case skips step 8 and continues to final status (Step 10).

Note: OPCR is not involved in this step, but we are notified of the process.

Pre-determination hearing

During the Chief’s 30-day review period

If the Chief is considering disciplining the focus officer(s) on any allegation(s):

• A pre-determination hearing is held. This is also known as a Loudermill meeting.
• If a focus officer is on leave, the hearing is not held until they return to employment.

The purpose of the hearing is to provide the focus officer an opportunity to:

• Provide more information or explanations and/or
• Apologize and take responsibility for their actions

The hearing occurs before the Chief makes a final decision.

Note: OPCR is not involved in this step, but we are notified of the process.

The Chief makes a decision about the case after:

• Reviewing all information
• Holding any pre-determination hearings (if applicable)

There can be different decisions for different officers involved in the case. 

The Chief's possible decision outcomes are

• Sustained
• Not sustained
• Unfounded
• Exonerated

Learn more about the Chief's possible decisions

If the Chief makes the decision that, if the case is sustained, they can impose discipline or non-disciplinary corrective action.

This may include one or more options:

Discipline

• A letter of reprimand
• Suspension
• Demotion
• Discharge from employment

Non-disciplinary corrective action

• Coaching
• Training

If the Chief decides to discipline the focus officers

• The Chief writes a formal memo that explains the reasons for their decision. This information is made public in final status (Step 10).
• The officer(s) or POFM can disagree with the decision, and the case may move to grievance and arbitration (Step 9).
• If not, the case continues to final status.

The case continues to final status if the chief:

• Decides the case was not sustained, unfounded or exonerated or
• Decides the case is sustained and imposes non-disciplinary corrective action

Note: OPCR is not involved in this step, but we are notified of the process.

The Police Officers' Federation of Minneapolis (POFM) contract provides details on grievance and arbitration procedures.

This information is only meant to give a general overview of what’s described in the contract. It does not establish: 

• Guidelines
• Procedures
• Or any different practices

See the POFM labor agreement

Grievance process

If the officer(s) and/or POFM disagree with the Chief’s discipline decision, they can file a grievance. This is an optional step and officers can choose to opt out of this process. 

• If they opt out, the case continues to final status and the Chief’s decision is final.
• If an officer would like to participate, the POFM will review the case file and can vote to file a grievance. Only the POFM can file a grievance.

Step one grievance

A POFM representative informs the Chief’s Office in writing of a step one grievance.

Step one decision

The Chief or their designee responds to the step one grievance. The POFM can escalate it to a step two grievance.

Step two grievance

A POFM representative informs the Chief’s Office in writing of a step two grievance.

Note: A grievance is always a step two grievance when it involves:

• A class-action grievance (involving five or more employees in similarly situated employees)
• Suspension
• Demotion
• Discharge from employment

Step two decision

The Chief or their designee responds to the step two grievance. If the POFM representative disagrees with the decision, they can appeal the decision. The case will then go through the arbitration process.

Arbitration process

1. A POFM representative requests arbitration.
2. An arbitration hearing with a neutral third party or arbitrator is held.
3. The arbitrator makes a decision within 30 days. An extension may be granted if necessary.

Learn more about grievance and arbitration

Note: OPCR is not involved in this step, but we are notified of the process.

The case reaches the status of final disposition.

If the case was sustained and discipline was imposed

The Chief’s decision is made public. The information generally available to the public in these cases includes:

• Case number
• Incident date
• Precinct the incident occurred in
• Police officer’s name
• Police officer’s badge number
• Police officer’s work assignment
• Violation type
• Violation category
• Type of discipline
• Chief’s discipline memo
• Date of Chief’s discipline memo

See data on Chief decisions and discipline memos

See the Chief’s discipline memos

Other case results

• If the case was not sustained, unfounded or exonerated or
• If the case was sustained and the Chief decided to impose non-disciplinary corrective action 

It is made public that the case was closed with no discipline. 

No other information about the case is available to the public due to the Minnesota Data Practices Act.

Learn more about the Data Practices Act