The Professional Responsibility Bureau of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office operates in accordance with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Guidelines on Internal Affairs Policy and Procedures.  A copy of the guidelines can be found on the New Jersey Attorney General’s website.

Our Professional Responsibility Bureau accepts and documents all citizen complaints against law enforcement personnel employed in Monmouth County, as well as all citizen complaints against law enforcement personnel employed by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

The Professional Responsibility Bureau is responsible for investigating allegations of criminal acts committed by police officers.  If a citizen’s complaint about a police officer does not rise to the level of a crime or there is insufficient evidence to prove a crime was committed, the complaint will likely be referred back to the officer’s employer, the municipal police department, for an administrative investigation by the police department’s internal affairs unit.  If a police officer is found by his or her employer to have violated a department policy or rule during the administrative investigation, then the employer may discipline the officer.  However, discipline rests solely with a law enforcement officer’s employing agency.  The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office does not have the legal authority to impose administrative punishment on a municipal police officer.

Any citizen wishing to file a complaint may do so by  downloading, filling out the Citizen Complaint Form electronically and submitting it online through our website Citizen Complaint Form – Download Here or click here for the Spanish version of the complaint form.  Information about the process of making a complaint with this office may be found at the MCPO Civilian Complaint Information Sheet. – You can find a link to the complaint form as well as the standard civilian complaint information sheet in various languages by visiting the Attorney General’s website.  A complaint may also be submitted in person at our office Monday through Friday between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. at the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office located at 132 Jerseyville Avenue, Freehold, NJ, 07728; by fax at 732-431-1594; by e-mailing the Professional Responsibility Bureau at mcpopru@mcponj.org; or by telephone at 732-431-7160.

 

The 4 A’s of Internal Affairs

1. ANYONE – Any individual must be permitted to file an Internal Affairs complaint. It can be a victim, a friend of the victim, a parent, a juvenile (with or without parents), an illegal alien (we are not permitted to ask about immigration status) or it can be anonymous. ANYONE means ANYONE.

2. ANY WAY – An Internal Affairs complaint can be filed in ANY WAY. It could be filed by phone, by letter, written on a napkin, in person… Whatever is best for the person filing. We cannot make someone show up in person or swear the statement to initiate the complaint process.

3. ANY TIME – A complaint must be taken regardless of the hour or day of the week. At no time should a complaint be told to return later, even if the IA officer is unavailable. ANY law enforcement officer or civilian employee must take a complaint.

4. ANYTHING – All complaints received are investigated if the complaint contains sufficient factual information to warrant an investigation.

* * * LAW ENFORCEMENT MUST AVOID ANY LANGUAGE THAT IS DESIGNED TO DISSUADE SOMEBODY FROM FILING A COMPLAINT.