Find out more about making a complaint as a young person.
No matter what age you are, you have a right to complain if you’re not happy about something that happened to you which involved the police or with how you have been treated by the police.
Making a complaint
You can contact us using our online form.
You can call us on 0300 123 2989 (9am to 5pm Monday to Friday)
You can email us: [email protected]
You can visit us at our offices Belfast (Writers’ Square, 11 Church Street, Belfast) and ask to speak to a member of our complaints team.
Can an adult make a complaint on my behalf?
Yes, an adult can make a complaint for you if you are under 18. This is normally a parent or guardian or other close relative, a social worker or a legal representative.
Do I have to have an adult with me to make a complaint?
No, you can make a complaint yourself.
However, we recommend that you do have someone who is over 18 to support you.
This could be a parent or guardian, a social worker, a legal representative or a friend. We can also help to find an appropriate adult to support you if you prefer.
What happens when you complain about a police officer?
When you make a complaint about a police officer, we will take a statement from you about what happened.
We will also ask the police officer for their version of events.
We will gather evidence about the incident you have complained about. This might include CCTV footage, medical records, police radio transmissions, police documents, phone records and forensic evidence. This evidence helps us to decide whether police officers have acted properly or not.
Examples of the types of things we investigate include complaints that:
- officers failed to conduct proper enquiries
- officers used excessive force
- officers were rude or aggressive
- or acted inappropriately in other ways.
If the evidence suggests that an officer has committed a criminal act, we can recommend that they are taken to court and prosecuted.
If the evidence suggests that they have not done their job properly, we can recommend to the PSNI that they are disciplined.
Sometimes we find no evidence, or not enough evidence, that an officer has acted improperly. If that's the case, the complaint will not be upheld and no action will be taken against the officer.
Whatever the outcome, we will contact you to let you know our finding.
As well as complaints about police officers, we also investigate complaints about some civilian employees of the police. This includes those performing custody and escort duties.
Do you have to pay to make a complaint?
No. It costs nothing to make a complaint.
Are you part of the police?
No. We are separate from the police and our investigations are independent of the police and government.
How long do I have to make a complaint?
Usually you have a year from the date of the incident to make a complaint with us.