Personnel Complaint Procedure

It is the policy of the Margate Police Department to investigate all complaints made against the department or its personnel, thoroughly, completely and impartially. A proper relationship between the department and the citizens we serve, fostered by trust and confidence, is essential to effective law enforcement efforts.

The Margate Police Department complaint process has been developed to ensure this proper relationship provides people with a fair and effective method to address legitimate complaints against Police Department personnel and to protect officers and employees from false charges of misconduct or wrongdoing.

The department would prefer you speak with a supervisor when you file a complaint. We do this to ensure that we obtain all the necessary information that we will need to fully and impartially investigate your complaint, as well as expedite the resolution of any complaints.

If you do not wish to speak with a supervisor, you may file a complaint against an employee or officer by fully and accurately completing the attached complaint form. We ask that you print neatly or type the form if possible. An electronic version of this form is available online at www.margatefl.com/police if you prefer to utilize that format. View a printable version of this form (PDF) in Adobe format.

If you need help with the complaint form, you can call an Internal Investigations Unit Investigator at 954-935-5483. The investigator will assist you with any questions you may have. When you have completed the complaint form, you can return it to the Police Department in any of the following ways:

• Drop it off at the Police Department front desk sealed in an envelope;
• Give it to any Margate Police Department officer or employee sealed in an envelope;
• Mail it to the Police Department at 5790 Margate Blvd., Margate, FL 33063;
• Fax it to the Police Department at 954-935-5476;
• Email it to the Police Department.

The Police Department will assign your complaint to a supervisor to investigate. The supervisor will contact you and send you a receipt indicating receipt of your complaint. You can contact that supervisor at any time to follow the progress of your complaint. The Chief of Police will send you a letter notifying you of the conclusion of the investigation and any action taken.

It certainly is unfortunate that you had the occasion to be less than satisfied with a member of our department, and we certainly hope that all future contacts with members of our department are positive ones.