Administration

POLICY

It is the goal of the Boone County Sheriff’s Office to provide a safe and supportive community through honest, competent, professional, and progressive law enforcement services. Our Value Points are Integrity, Leadership, Loyalty, Professionalism, and Commitment.

Whenever a citizen feels that a Boone County Sheriff’s Office employee, including Deputies, Communications, and Corrections, has failed to live up to these Value Points the matter must be addressed by the Sheriff. Thus, it is the further policy of the Boone County Sheriff’s Office that all allegations of employee misconduct shall be appropriately investigated.

DIRECTIONS

Please read all directions provided with this Complaint Against Employee packet prior to completing the Complaint Form; be familiar with the terms and phrases used.

The Complaint Form is a fillable form that may be completed online or may be printed and completed manually. Make sure that all information requested is provided and that the description of the incident contains as much detail as possible. Some may question the need for certain information, such as race or date of birth; this information is important if the allegations of the complaint touch on those issues such as racial bias or age discrimination complaints.

If you complete the Complaint Form by hand, please use a dark colored ink pen to enter information on the Complaint Form. 

Provide your contact information so that the investigator may contact you for follow-up details. Also, provide all contact information for witnesses to the incident or others with pertinent knowledge of the incident so the investigator may obtain information from them.

When completed, submit the Complaint Form to the Boone County Sheriff’s Office either electronically or by delivering it to the address stated on the cover sheet.

FURTHER INFORMATION

A complaint may be based on dissatisfaction with a departmental operation, the personal conduct of an employee, an unlawful act engaged in by an employee, some other misconduct, or a violation of policies or procedures.

Any person may submit a Complaint Form on a Boone County Sheriff’s Office employee, and may only be a witness to, rather than a participant in, an event. A complainant may be of any age, gender, race, etc. But if the complainant is a juvenile the contact information for the parents must be included.

Under Boone County Sheriff’s Office policies and procedures, as well as Indiana law, an employee may be disciplined in a range of options depending of the strength of the evidence and the seriousness of the offense; discipline ranges from a verbal reprimand, to written reprimand, to retraining, to suspension with pay, to suspension without pay, and, in extreme circumstances, termination of employment. It is also possible that employee’s actions may constitute a crime under Indiana’s criminal law, which may result in a criminal conviction and a criminal sentence. Under Indiana law, any discipline imposed greater than a fifteen-day suspension without pay to a Merit Deputy may only be rendered by the Boone County Sheriff’s Merit Board; Discipline of civilian employees differs from Merit Deputies.

A complainant need not disclose her/his name and contact information in order to submit a Complaint Form. However, without contact information the investigator will be unable to obtain follow-up information or evidence, which may result in a determination that the complaint is unfounded. Additionally, the Sheriff will be unable to communicate the results of the investigation and discipline imposed, if any.

If you are dissatisfied by the results of the investigation or the discipline imposed (if any), you may contact the Boone County Attorney through the Clerk of the Court or the County Auditor.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

The purpose of this section titled “Notice” is not to intimidate complainants or to dissuade them from filing legitimate complaints, but rather to inform about consequences of making a false complaint against a Boone County Sheriff’s Office employee. False statements made under oath may constitute the crime of perjury, a felony; it may constitute false reporting, a misdemeanor; it may amount to other crimes such as intimidation, harassment, etc. Further, false reports may result in civil liability for defamation.