Police Misconduct

In the District of Columbia you can file a complaint in court if the police engage in misconduct. You must bring your complaint within the statute of limitations. In some jurisdictions that could be as short as one year of the incident. Others provide for three years or some other period. If you would like to know the statute of limitation in D.C. please give us a call at (202) 558‑6768.  In addition, the police can’t hold an illegal interrogation or extraction of involuntary confession. And they can’t treat races differently in enforcing the law.

Police officers generally have broad powers to carry out their duties and enforce the law. However, there are limits to what the police can do thanks to the Constitution and other laws. The most common claims brought against police officers are false arrest (or false imprisonment), malicious prosecution, and use of excessive or unreasonable force.

Officers have a duty to protect individuals from constitutional violations by fellow officers. Therefore, an officer who witnesses a fellow officer violating an individual's constitutional rights may be liable to the victim for failing to intervene.

The police power is limited by the civil rights guaranteed to every citizen. President Truman understood that civil rights are essential for our democracy. On December 5, 1946 he signed a proclamation that the preservation of civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution is essential to domestic tranquility, national security, the general welfare, and the continued existence of our free institutions.

President Truman recognized that the action of individuals who take the law into their own hands and inflict summary punishment and wreak personal vengeance is subversive of our democratic system of law enforcement and public criminal justice, and gravely threatens our form of government. He noted that it was essential that all possible steps be taken to safeguard our civil rights.

The government’s power is limited by civil rights which provide a broad range of rights, freedoms, and privileges granted by the U.S. Constitution. The primary purpose of the nation's civil rights laws is to protect citizens from abuses by government, including police misconduct. Civil rights laws allow attorney fees and compensatory and punitive damages as incentives for injured parties to enforce their rights.

 

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File With the DC Office of Police Complaints (OPC)

OPC is a District of Columbia Government agency that is independent of the MPDC and has its own investigative staff. Gives individuals a choice to have police misconduct complaints investigated by an agency other than the MPDC. Has authority to investigate complaints filed within 45 days of the underlying incident, and that allege harassment; use of unnecessary or excessive force; use of language or conduct that is insulting, demeaning, or humiliating; discriminatory treatment; retaliation for filing a complaint with OPC; or failure to wear required identification or refusal to provide name and badge number when requested to do so by a member of the public.

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File With the Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC)

MPDC investigates complaints against its members through the MPDC Office of Professional Responsibility and chain‑of‑command officials. Investigates complaints filed at anytime alleging any type of misconduct, including misconduct that can be investigated by OPC. Investigates anonymous complaints.

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Your Civil Rights

Congress has provided a statute to permit you to recover for police misconduct, 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In order to recover under 42 U.S.C. §1983, the challenged conduct must be committed "under color of law." This means that the police must have acted in an official, government capacity, clothed with the authority of the state, in order to be held liable.

The Constitution provides you with your rights.

The First Amendment protects your freedom of religion, speech, press and the right to peaceably assemble. The government can’t deny you these rights.

Pursuant to the First Amendment, you have the right to march, hand out flyers and speak in public, with some limitations. You can speak at a political rally. Your religious organization can not be harassed and you can not be ejected from a public meeting without cause.

Religious Freedom Restoration Act (42 U.S.C. §2000bb) limits government restrictions on the free exercise of religion.

Although the deprivation of a First Amendment right need not be intentional, evidence of impermissible motivation (e.g., political) is ordinarily required.

The Fourth Amendment protects right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, requires probable cause for warrants to be issued and requires that they be supported by oath or affirmation).

These are very important rights as they protect you from false arrest, false imprisonment or illegal detention, searches without warrants, being untimely held as a pretrial detainee. A key component is that the police can not use deadly force to apprehend you without cause. They can’t use any excessive force.

A "seizure" must be intentional in order to give rise to a Fourth Amendment deprivation. The "reasonableness" of that seizure (and, hence, its constitutionality) will be determined by an objective standard whereby the nature and quality of the intrusion is balanced against the importance of the governmental interest alleged to justify it.

The Sixth Amendment protects your right to an attorney in criminal proceedings. The police can’t monitor your communications with your attorney and they can’t deny you an attorney. If they arrest you, demand to see your attorney.

The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Guards can’t assault arrested persons. They must protect inmates from known threats. They can’t deny inmates medical care, visitation, practice of religious beliefs, access to legal materials, mail, etc.

An inmate's claim based on inadequate medical care or the physical living conditions of his prison will be evaluated under the "deliberate indifference" standard. Inmate suicides are likewise analyzed under this standard. In the event of an uprising, however, prison officials are entitled to use force in a good faith effort to maintain or restore discipline, and will only be held liable for those injuries inflicted with malicious and sadistic intent.

The Fourteenth Amendment protects a person's rights to life, liberty and property. None can be be deprived without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied equal protection of the laws. Pretrial detainees can’t be punished. Inmates are entitled to medical care. In fact, any conduct that “shocks the conscience” or “offends the community's sense of fair play and decency”is not permitted.

In addition, the police can’t hold an illegal interrogation or extraction of involuntary confession. And can’t treat races differently in enforcing the law.

A claimant may recover for a denial of procedural due process upon a showing that the defendant intentionally denied that process to which the claimant was constitutionally due.

A claimant may recover for a substantive due process violation upon proof that the defendant acted recklessly or with callous indifference to the claimant's rights. Recovery, however, will only be permitted for a truly horrendous abuse of governmental power. Mere negligence, gross negligence or bad faith will not be sufficient. Finally, deliberate conduct that "shocks the conscience" or "offends the community's sense of fair play and decency" will support a substantive due process claim without proof of the specific liberty or property interest purportedly violated.

In the context of a pretrial detainee denied medical attention, the defendant may be held liable upon a showing of deliberate indifference or proof that the defendant's conduct was grossly negligent or so reckless as to be tantamount to a desire to inflict harm.
 

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