Where to go if the police do not respond to a complaint?

Reasons for complaints against police officers

A complaint against a police officer is filed in two main situations :

Unlawful actions on the part of an employee of internal bodies that go beyond the scope of his official powers.
Inaction in situations where his intervention is required to restore public order.

Yulia Kalinina

Consumer Protection Lawyer

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The legislation clearly regards both situations described as a violation by an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of his direct official duties. If such violations are detected, a citizen has the right to file a complaint against the negligent police officer with regulatory authorities.

Misconduct by a Police Officer

Each employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is obliged to act strictly within the limits of official authority established for him. This rule must be followed by all law enforcement officers, regardless of the specific place of duty - traffic police inspectors, district police officers, investigators, patrol officers.

Any crossing of these official boundaries is regarded as an official offense. And in some situations, abuse of power may lead not only to disciplinary action by the department, but also to the initiation of a criminal case.

Situations where a citizen can complain about the police include:

Unreasonable use of force by police. According to the provisions of Federal Law No. 3, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have the right to use physical force or special means only to protect the life, health and property of citizens, for self-defense, or to neutralize an aggressive offender. If a police officer uses force or special equipment (a baton, handcuffs, a gas canister) to punish a violator, or to assert his power over him, this is a malfeasance. Such a police officer must be held accountable in accordance with the provisions of administrative or criminal law.
Unlawful initiation of an investigation in the absence of objective reasons for this. Such an act may be a consequence of the low professional qualifications of the police officer, or a deliberate violation. In the latter case, this is usually associated with some kind of corruption component: an attempt at extortion, putting pressure on a citizen, personal revenge for something. The illegal initiation of a criminal case is often accompanied by falsification of search results (planting of material evidence), forgery of documents, and so on. All such actions are clearly regarded by law as a criminal offense, and the police officer who committed them is obliged to answer to the fullest extent of the Criminal Code.
Illegal document check , detention, seizure of property, personal search or search. All actions of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are subject to official instructions and directives, which must be strictly observed. Violations of them serve as a reason for filing a complaint against the police with supervisory authorities. A search of the premises and seizure of property should be carried out only in the presence of a judicial (prosecutor's) warrant, and not on the personal initiative of a specific police officer. Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs can only enter private property with the permission of a prosecutor or judge. The exception is when there is evidence that a crime is taking place there or a dangerous criminal is hiding. Also, a police officer does not have the right to conduct a personal search of the contents of passers-by’s pockets or bags, or check their documents without a good reason, as a preventive measure “just in case.”

Inaction of a police officer

The other extreme, also considered a violation of official duties, is the unreasonable inaction of internal organs employees.

examples of this from life:

The district police officer does not respond to requests from citizens, and does not take action against neighbors who break the law - making noise at night, leading an antisocial lifestyle, damaging common property.
The police station duty officer refuses to accept the application on some far-fetched pretexts.
Investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs unlawfully refuse to initiate a case into the commission of a crime.
The patrol team does not respond to an emergency call received from a citizen, and is in no hurry to go to the specified address.

These are only some of the possible situations where police officers are negligent in their service. In such cases, the person whose interests have been harmed has the right to complain about the inaction of the police.

What is the likelihood of the case being solved?

It all depends on the specific situation. The main thing is the availability of information and testimony. Therefore, the victim himself must try to find witnesses to the crime.

But it is important not to do rash actions that can only hinder the investigation. Therefore, the victim should coordinate his actions with the investigator.

To summarize, it is necessary to repeat that it is necessary to submit an application. Without him, there will be no investigation of the case. What to do if the police do not accept a statement? Talk to the police, pointing out that refusing to accept a statement is a violation of the law. Usually this is enough, especially since they do not directly refuse, but invent tricks according to which submitting an application is pointless and difficult. In this case, it is enough not to fall for their tricks, justifying your position with the norms of the law.

Where to go if the police do not respond to a complaint

When police officers do not want to perform their official duties efficiently, or openly ignore requests from the population, you can file a complaint with a number of supervisory authorities. Starting from the immediate superior of the negligent police officer, and ending with higher departments - the court, the prosecutor's office and even the Presidential Administration. There are also several ways to submit: during a personal visit, on the official website, by telephone hotline, or by registered mail.

Police

The very first authority to which you can file a complaint about unlawful actions of a police officer or his inaction is his immediate superiors.

To do this, you need to visit the head of the department during office hours and personally submit a claim. It is also possible to send the paper by registered mail, with notification of delivery to the addressee.

If this does not help resolve the issue, then you need to contact higher management. You can also leave a request on the official website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. In many regions of the country, the territorial divisions of the ministry have their own Internet portals, which accept applications from the population.

Another option for filing a complaint remotely is to call hotline : 8 (800) 222-74-47 .

Calls are free for all subscribers and are accepted 24 hours a day. The operator registers the received claim and forwards it to the appropriate service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Prosecutor's office

Article 52 of Federal Law No. 3 states that the prosecutor's office is the main body supervising the work of the police and compliance by its employees with Russian legislation. If employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs violate the law, the prosecutor is obliged to issue an order to eliminate it. If the detected violation is of a serious nature, at the request of the prosecutor's office, administrative or criminal proceedings are initiated against the police officer.

Yulia Kalinina

Consumer Protection Lawyer

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Every citizen who has suffered from the arbitrariness or inaction of internal officials can file a complaint against the police with the prosecutor's office. Upon receipt of a complaint, an investigation is carried out, and if violations are detected, the perpetrators are held accountable depending on the severity of the offense - disciplinary, administrative or criminal.

Court

The judiciary is one of the highest authorities that people turn to when it is not possible to resolve the conflict by other means. After receiving the statement of claim, legal proceedings begin. Its initiators can be both the victim himself and supervisory authorities - the prosecutor's office, the internal security service under the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The claim should state the circumstances of the problem and specific requirements: bring the violator to justice, issue a court order to eliminate the violations, and seek compensation for the material (moral) damage caused.

CSS

The Department of Internal Security is a special police unit responsible for identifying and suppressing crimes among department employees.

This authority accepts appeals relating only to serious offenses by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs that fall under the scope of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - torture, corruption, extortion, falsification of cases, and the like.

Minor offenses, such as illegal checking of documents on the street, or refusal to accept an application, will not be considered by the CSS.

HRC under the President

The Human Rights Council is a special body whose purpose is to oversee compliance with constitutional norms and protect the civil rights of the population. A complaint is submitted to the public reception of the Council in case of serious violations of the rights of citizens by government officials, including employees of law enforcement agencies.

You can file a complaint against the police:

By calling the HRC hotline: 8 (495) 606-48-55;
By sending the paper by registered mail to the address: 103132, Moscow, Staraya Square, building No. 4 .

After considering the received appeal, the HRC forwards it to the department responsible for this area of violations - the Internal Security Service, the prosecutor's office, the courts.

Public Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs

This non-governmental body was created under the Ministry to assist in monitoring compliance with the rule of law and the rights of citizens by police officers. He is the link between the population and local authorities on the one hand, and the police on the other.

You can contact the Council:

Through the official website of the organization.
Toll free hotline 8 (800) 250-85-02.
Send a written complaint to the regional department of the Council, or to the head office at the address: 117342, Moscow, post office box 35 .

President of the Russian Federation

The highest authority to which a Russian can complain about unlawful actions of police officers is personally to the President of the country. At first glance, the resolution of a conflict that has arisen between an individual citizen and a police officer does not correspond to the level of the head of state. But, oddly enough, such appeals are quite effective.

Officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or supervisory departments, having received an order from the Presidential Administration to look into the problem presented, very quickly carry out the order.

On the website of the Office of the Presidential Administration for processing applications, you can file a complaint about violations by officials of any government departments. Upon consideration of the complaint, it is redirected to the necessary authorities with a requirement to understand the essence of the problem.

Commissioner for Human Rights

The position of the Civil Rights Ombudsman was introduced in the country relatively recently, but has already shown its effectiveness.

The scope of the commissioner's activities includes oversight of compliance with constitutional rights and freedoms. When a complaint is received, the authorized person personally, or members of his staff, consider it, if necessary, sending official requests to various authorities.

When violations of a citizen’s rights are identified, the Ombudsman takes all necessary efforts to restore them, involving the judiciary, the prosecutor’s office and other departments. Each region has its own commissioner appointed by the local parliament.

You can submit a complaint to the central office of the Commissioners for Human Rights on the official website of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation.

What to write in the application?

There are several key points in the content of the police report:

What happened.
Under what circumstances and when.
Who is the witness?
Who is to blame, according to the applicant.
What does the applicant want from the police?

Often not all of this data is known to the applicant. For example, the culprit is unknown and there is no suspicion, the exact time of the crime is unknown. In this case, there is no need to invent anything, it is enough to write that the culprit has not been identified, the time is known approximately, from such and such an hour.

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The main thing is to specify the requirements very precisely: to bring the perpetrators to justice and compensate for the damage.

Is it possible to omit the name and address from the application?

No, the legislation of the Russian Federation prohibits the acceptance of anonymous statements, since it is impossible to initiate a criminal case on their basis. Moreover, it is important to indicate all the data - full name and address, and not just one thing.

How to file a complaint against a police officer. Sample

A complaint against a police officer is drawn up in free form , but must comply with basic standards of legal paperwork. The document must indicate the details of the offending police officer, or the unit in which he serves, information about the applicant (full name, residential address, contact telephone number). Next, the essence of the problem that has arisen is clearly described, without excesses, and a requirement is put forward to the supervisory authority to bring the violator to justice. At the end, the date of compilation and the personal signature of the applicant are affixed.

Deadlines for consideration of applications

All citizen complaints received by supervisory authorities are considered in accordance with the provisions of Federal Law No. 59 “on citizens’ appeals.”

For government departments this period is :

10 days to consider the received request:
30 days – to verify the facts stated in the complaint and take measures if they are confirmed.

The documents were not submitted to the tax office according to registration

Grounds - clause b) part 1 of Art. 23 of the Law on registration of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs.

Documents for registration of individual entrepreneurs are submitted to the tax office at the place of permanent registration. Usually this is the Federal Tax Service of your region. Even if there is a second temporary registration in another city. For example, with permanent registration in Saratov, you cannot open an individual entrepreneur at the place of temporary registration in Moscow.

Only people who do not have permanent registration in Russia can open an individual entrepreneur at the place of temporary registration.

Exit . Find the address of your registration office on the tax website. Submit the entire package of documents there again. Plus pay the state duty again - using the new details of your inspection.

Dismissal procedure

The procedure for dismissal at will is established in Article 80 of the Labor Code. The employee has the right to terminate the employment contract by notifying the employer in writing no later than two weeks in advance, and the period begins to run the next day after the employer receives the resignation letter. The employee’s right to terminate the contract is not subject to any conditions: his or her application alone is sufficient for dismissal.

Regarding the two-week period, the following points should also be noted::

If the employee manages to reach an agreement with the employer, then this period can be reduced, and the employee can leave the position as early as the next day.
In addition, in cases where the employee’s application is due to the fact that he cannot continue working in this place: pension, admission to a university, etc., or if the employer has violated labor legislation (and this is confirmed by a court decision), then the employee also has the right to reduce the two-week period to any desired one, and compliance with this period is mandatory for the employer. This is also reflected in Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

We discussed all the nuances of when 2 weeks of work will be required when an employee voluntarily resigns and in which cases it can be avoided in this material.

Important! Before the expiration of the notice period for dismissal, the employee may withdraw his application, but only if another employee is not invited to take his place in writing by way of transfer.

Consequences of unlawful actions of the employer

Also, the very refusal to dismiss on the initiative of the employee threatens the employer with the imposition of an administrative fine in accordance with Art. 5.27 of the Administrative Code (for an organization - from thirty thousand to fifty thousand rubles, and from one thousand to five thousand rubles - for a manager).

As you can see, the consequences of refusal to dismiss for an employer can be very sad. In most cases, management will not enter into a conflict if they see that the employee knows his rights and possible ways to protect them.

The tax office closed the old individual entrepreneur as non-working

Grounds - clause c) part 1 of Art. 23, part 4 art. 22.1 of the Law on registration of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs.

From time to time, the tax office itself closes individual entrepreneurs that do not operate. To do this, the IP must have two sins. The first is that he hasn't filed a tax return or renewed his patent in the last 15 months. The second is that it is responsible for arrears in taxes and insurance premiums.

In the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs there will be a note that the individual entrepreneur was excluded as inactive by decision of the tax office. You can check your old individual entrepreneur in the tax service Providing information from the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs.

For three years, a person cannot open a new individual entrepreneur after excluding the old one from the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs.

Exit . Wait three years. Or work in another form: become self-employed or open an LLC.

Apply for "children's" OKVED with a criminal record

Grounds - clause c) part 1 of Art. 23, part 4 art. 22.1 of the Law on registration of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs.

A person with a criminal record for murder, theft, violence and drug trafficking is prohibited from working with children. The same applies to the accused, when the punishment was not imposed due to the statute of limitations.

The tax office automatically finds out that the entrepreneur intends to work with children using the OKVED codes in the registration application. Types of activities with children are prescribed in Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 285.

If the tax office sees a “children’s” OKVED code, it requests a certificate from the Ministry of Internal Affairs about the person’s criminal record. Those with a criminal record are denied registration as an individual entrepreneur.

Exit . Engage in other activities, without working with children. Opening an individual entrepreneur and then quietly adding a children's activity will not work. The tax office will check your criminal record every time.