Complaint Procedures:
In the normal course of public safety communications, actions of employees of the Department can become the center of citizen and public safety agency criticism. Citizens and public safety agency employees who have a complaint are encouraged to notify the Department or any Department employee. As many citizen complaints are procedural misunderstandings between themselves and the Department’s employees, it is imperative the complaint be reviewed by the Department and an attempt made to reinstitute proper citizen/employee relations. Therefore, the following established procedures are to be used by the Department when taking citizen complaints regarding internal matters.

Notification of Complaint:
a.)  If complaint is received within the 9-1-1 Center Operations Room: All persons who seek to file a complaint shall be promptly directed to a supervisor or administrative personnel in order to record the complaint. Employees shall explain the complaint process to citizens who inquire about filing a complaint.
b.)  On any complaint received by administrative staff or referred to the Deputy Director and/or Quality Assurance Coordinator by supervisory staff, the Deputy Director/Director and/or Quality Assurance Coordinator shall ensure the complainant is formally notified that the complaint was received for investigation. This notification may be made by letter, E-mail, or phone but must be documented in the complaint database. At this time, the complainant shall be informed of the Departmental investigation process and given an estimated time of conclusion.

Complainant Contact
The complainant shall be notified at the time the complaint is taken that it has been received and will be investigated; this shall be documented either on the complaint form or in the complaints database. Anytime the complainant is contacted whether it is for status reports on a lengthy investigation or notification of the results of the investigation, the time, date, and any comments should be entered into the complaints database.

Conclusion of Investigation: 
Once the investigation is complete, the Deputy Director/Director shall notify the complainant giving a general description of the findings. If disciplinary action was taken as a result of the complaint, the complainant may be informed of this fact, however, no specifics on the actions taken shall be released. This final notification may be done by mail, E-mail or phone, but must be documented in the complaints database.

Complaint Form (Click Here)