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It is the Department of Justice general policy that local governments will be primarily responsible for citizen complaints against law enforcement agencies or employees of law enforcement agencies, and that appropriate local resources (e.g. sheriff or police department, district attorney, and citizens review commission in the area of jurisdiction) be utilized for resolution of such complaints. The Attorney General will review citizen complaints against a law enforcement agency or its employees for possible investigation when substantive allegations of unlawful conduct are made and all appropriate local resources for redress have been exhausted. You should first direct your complaint to the local law enforcement agency. Every law enforcement agency in California is required to establish a procedure to investigate citizens' complaints (Penal Code Section 832.5). A written description of the procedure is available from all law enforcement agencies. If you are alleging that a law enforcement officer committed a crime and your complaint is not resolved by your complaint to the agency, you should next contact the county district attorney in the county where the law enforcement agency is located. Contact information for county district attorneys is available from the California District Attorney’s Association. If your complaint involves alleged criminal misconduct and the local agencies do not act upon it, you may write to the Attorney General's Office. Your correspondence must include specific information about misconduct that violates state law, the details of your efforts to resolve the complaint with the local authorities, copies of your complaint(s) to the local authorities and copies of their response(s). Correspondence that does not contain this information cannot be acted upon. Law Enforcement Complaint Form. [Spanish Form]