Allegation of Officer Misconduct/Citizen Complaint

Your allegation is IMPORTANT

The city of Spring Hill Police Department recognizes police officers are sworn to protect the rights of all citizens regardless of race, age, sex, nationality, religious or political preferences. This applies to those taken into custody as well. The men and women of the Spring Hill Police Department take this oath seriously. The department has internal policies to ensure proper demeanor and conduct expected of the officers. Allegations of misconduct are investigated objectively to build the public's trust in the department and keep the trust of the department's employees.

If your situation or incident ended with you being charged with a traffic or criminal offense, alleging misconduct will not result in your charges being dismissed. These are two separate and independent issues and all charges must still be resolved in their respective courts.

Our goal at the Spring Hill Police Department is to provide the citizens with the highest quality of police service. Your input is valued and will be used to help keep our high standards in effect.

Who may allege misconduct?

The Spring Hill Police Department will accept and document all complaints alleging employee or department misconduct for the following reasons:

A. To ensure complaints alleging employee or department misconduct are accepted

and investigated in a consistent and reasonable manner to uncover the truth of the allegations,

B. To identify areas of misunderstanding by the complaining citizen,

C. To identify employees whose attitude, behavior and/or performance requires

correction and supervisory intervention,

D. To protect employees and the department from erroneous complaints, and

E. To identify department policies, training and/or practices in need of reevaluation, clarification and/or correction.

RESPONSIBILITY - Ours and Yours

The Spring Hill Police Department's responsibility is to receive and document the allegation, conduct an impartial investigation, make an unbiased assessment and correct the misconduct if it is found. All allegations are taken seriously and will be investigated. For this reason, it is important for us to ensure that your allegation is based on fact. False reporting in an attempt to unjustly subject a police department employee to undeserved discipline, or place his or her employment in jeopardy can result in criminal charges and or a civil suit.

Your cooperation in the investigation is crucial to its success. Failure on the alleging party to cooperate with the investigation or failure to report in a timely manner may cause the misconduct file to be closed without further investigation.

Classifications of completed investigations:

All investigations receive one of the following dispositions:

1. Sustained: There was a preponderance of evidence to prove the allegation.

2. Not Sustained: There was not sufficient evidence to either prove or disprove the allegation.

3. Exonerated: The actions of the employee were consistent with the law and department policies, rules, regulations and practice.

4. Unfounded: The allegation did not occur.

5. Policy and/or training deficiency: The allegation occurred but was the fault of deficiencies in department policy and/or training and cannot be accountable to the employee involved.

6. Commended: The investigation revealed that the involved employee did not do anything wrong and the employee’s action is instead worthy of commendation.

What information will be shared?

You will be notified by the Chief of Police or a police department supervisor of the classification of the allegation once the investigation is complete. Due to personnel and privacy laws the department cannot disclose the exact discipline of a sustained finding.

How do I file an allegation of misconduct or complaint?

Citizens may file a complaint through the form on this webpage. The forms immediately are submitted to the Chief of Police.

An Allegation of Employee Misconduct form may also be downloaded and turned into the Chief of Police. This can be done in person at the department or it can be mailed in. If you mail the form back in, please use the address as follows:

Spring Hill Police Department 
ATTN: Chief of Police 
Professional Standards
418 E. Nichols Street 
Spring Hill, Kansas 66083

Our Commitment to You

It is imperative the Spring Hill Police Department operates in a degree of transparency and is responsive to complaints alleging employee misconduct and external concerns regarding the operation of the department. Members of the public should be provided with a reasonable avenue for any redress of grievances they may have with the service received by employees and the conduct of the department.