On February 3rd, 2022, the Champaign, Illinois Police Department (CPD) supplied Check CU with a police complaint form that quite clearly violates state law. The CPD also supplied the same unlawful forms to individuals who inquired at the police station.
The form contains an affidavit page that requires the complainant to sign a sworn statement. The complaint instructions also indicated that the complainant must sign the form and that doing so represents an affidavit.
The Champaign Police Department seems to be confused about state law. The Uniform Peace Officers’ Disciplinary Act explicitly states that police complaint forms cannot have any type of “sworn affidavit” requirement:
(50 ILCS 725/3.8) (b) It shall not be a requirement for a person filing a complaint against a sworn peace officer to have the complaint supported by a sworn affidavit or any other legal documentation.
The forms also indicate that personal information, such as full name (middle name also required), home address, age, and race, are required for the complaint to be considered.
These requirements do not appear to be as conspicuously unlawful as the affidavit portion of the complaint form, but it certainly seems to violate the spirit of the law. According to the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, the state law “allows for anonymous complaints against officers, without a sworn affidavit”. It would not follow that a police department could force complainants to supply a myriad of personal information if the law allows for complaints that can be submitted anonymously.
For reference, here is a copy of the Champaign Police Complaint forms and procedures/requirements, which Check CU was able to acquire via a public records request (click image for full 5-page PDF. The image quality is as provided by the Police Department):
