Compliments and Complaints
Compliments/Complaints and Feedback
The mission of The University of Toledo Police Department (UTPD) is to be a professional police agency dedicated to providing excellence in service and safety while promoting a rich educational experience. Let us know how we’re doing. Your feedback is important and helps us achieve our mission.
Compliments
It’s always nice to hear you were especially impressed with our service. Compliments positively reinforce hard work and good service and can be a moral booster for the entire department. Please let us know your happy with something UTPD did for you.
Complaints
UTPD recognizes the importance of protecting the community from employees who have
demonstrated acts of misconduct or have shown they are unfit for law enforcement work.
The University also has a duty to protect employees from false allegations of misconduct,
or allegations resulting from a misunderstanding of situational context or police
practices. The complaint process not only allows the department to examine its actions
during an incident in question, but also provides opportunity to assess the effectiveness
of our policies and procedures. These objectives can only be accomplished through
a consistently thorough and objective investigative process.
The complaint process protects the rights of both parties. You have the right to have
your complaint taken seriously, to be treated with respect and to have a thorough
investigation that identifies all relevant facts. You have the right to have meetings
with police personnel be conducted in a manner that will avoid intimidation. If you
do not feel these rights are being respected, you should contact the Chief of Police.
As public employees, police personnel have similar rights protecting them in the proper
exercise of their duties.
Complaints may be filed to include: In person at the UTPD or through the online complaint form
(see below). Please remember, the guilt, innocence or legality of an arrest are matters
for the courts to decide and are not subject to the police complaint process. Only
allegations of employee misconduct are investigated.
Once a complaint is received, an investigator assigned by the Deputy Chief of Police
will contact you and make arrangements to obtain a detailed statement about what occurred.
The investigator will then conduct a thorough and objective investigation. Every effort
is made to complete the investigation within 90 days; however, circumstances may require
a longer period of time. If criminal charges were filed or a citation was issued concerning
the event in question, it may be necessary to wait for court proceedings to conclude
before starting the administrative investigation.
At the conclusion of the investigation the results will be presented to the Chief
of Police and/or designee who will make a determination as to whether the employee(s)
acted properly. If the allegation is proven, appropriate corrective action will be
taken by the department in accordance with applicable University policy and procedures
and collective bargaining agreements. That action may involve some form of discipline
against the officer involved. You will be notified in writing as to the disposition
of the case.
Your cooperation is essential. Please make yourself available to members of the UTPD
staff for interviews. Although the incident in which you were involved may provoke
strong feelings, keeping a calm and cooperative attitude is very beneficial to the
investigative process. It is also important that you notify UTPD if your address or
phone number changes.