Notice to Persons Making a Public Service Complaint/Complement
The Zionsville Police Department provides police service to our community. The Department has
trained its personnel to provide consistent and professional service. As a member of our community,
you can assist the Department in ensuring that this level of service maintains that high level of
expectation. We encourage your participation. We want you to give us information when you observe
actions by the Police Department or individual Police Officers which you believe needs our attention.
These can be both actions which you find rewarding and those you might believe are not at an
acceptable level of professional police service.
You may report your observations in person at the Police Department, by letter, by email or on the
phone. The Police Department does accept anonymous information, but we would prefer that you
provide us with your identity. Anonymous reports are investigated only to the extent which the
information allows; which may not be satisfactory to you or the Department.
You should expect that your initial contact will be with a shift or unit supervisor of the Police
Department. The supervisor will provide you with a general complaint/complement form and instruction
to complete the document. The supervisor will conduct a preliminary investigation. This is to ensure that
all reverent and available information is gathered while it is still fresh. Your cooperation is very
important particularly in identifying witnesses and allowing us to accumulate evidence including
photographs and medical treatment records if necessary.
Your report will be reviewed by the involved unit Division Commander and that Commander will
investigate your complaint. Should the incident require the involvement of Internal Affairs, the Division
Commander will forward your complaint to Internal Affairs. You should expect to be contacted by a
Division Commander or officer of Internal Affairs within a couple of days of your report. The officer
assigned as the investigator will attempt to arrange for a convenient time to conduct a formal interview
with you. This interview, as are all of our interviews, be recorded. Your specific report will be given a
case number in the event that it is assigned to Internal Affairs and Investigator will be assigned to the
investigation.
An essential part of this investigation is the direct contact with the involved police employee. In cases
of a commendation, your report will become a part of the officer’s personnel file. In other cases, they
will be interviewed in a similar fashion to your interview. These police employees will be instructed not
to contact you unless it is in response to a service need.
We strive to complete all of these Public Service Report investigations within 30 days. Normally the
review process takes a few more days. You will be notified of the outcome of the investigation.
Citizens such as you are valuable eyes and ears for our community and it’s Police Department. We
respect your input both good and bad. Whenever you see police actions which you believe we should be
aware of, please report it to us.
