Internal Affairs Not Taking Your Complaint Seriously? Here’s Your Next Move

When Internal Affairs Pushes You Aside

Most people contact Internal Affairs after something serious happened—an officer used force that didn’t make sense, spoke in a way that made them feel unsafe, or abused authority during a stop. Filing a complaint takes courage. It means putting your name on record and trusting the system to treat your experience with dignity. But when the person on the other end minimizes your story, dismisses your evidence, or shrugs off the harm you suffered, the disappointment hits hard. Many people describe that moment as a second violation, layered on top of the first.

It’s often after this frustration that individuals seek out experienced civil rights attorneys. At Horn Wright, LLP, we hear the same emotions across many stories—anger, confusion, betrayal. People expected professionalism. Instead, they got evasive answers, delayed callbacks, or reports that barely summarized what they endured. And they walk away wondering: If Internal Affairs won’t take me seriously, what hope do I have?

The truth is that Internal Affairs is only one path. It is not the end of the road.

Why Internal Affairs Sometimes Fails Victims

Internal Affairs units are supposed to investigate misconduct. But they are part of the same department they review, and that reality complicates everything. Some units are understaffed. Others protect the department’s reputation more than community trust. Many former investigators have privately acknowledged that their work was shaped by pressure, from leadership, from culture, from the expectation to “not make trouble.”

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) within the U.S. Department of Justice has noted concerns about internal accountability nationwide, especially when departments rely heavily on internal review systems without independent oversight. Even when investigators mean well, they may accept an officer’s statement too quickly, overlook inconsistencies, or treat civilian accounts as less credible.

Internal Affairs may fail you, but that does not mean your complaint lacks merit.

Signs That Your Complaint Is Being Ignored

Victims often sense early on that something is off. They feel it in the tone of the investigator or the lack of urgency.

Common warning signs include:

• Investigators brushing aside details or refusing to look at evidence you offer.
• Long stretches of silence with no updates or confirmation your complaint is active.
• Reports closed “due to insufficient evidence” even when strong documentation exists.
• Investigators refusing to interview key witnesses or review available video.
• Internal Affairs accepting the officer’s version without question.

When investigators rush to close a case, they fail their duty, and your rights.

Why Your Story Still Matters Even When IA Won’t Listen

One of the hardest feelings to shake is the belief that your voice doesn’t matter because Internal Affairs dismissed it. Many clients say they hesitated before calling an attorney because they worried their complaint “wasn’t strong enough.” But Internal Affairs is not a neutral judge. Their inaction reflects their limitations, not the value of your experience.

Your memory, your fear, your harm, those are real. And in civil rights litigation, they matter far more than an internal department memo. Courts rely on evidence, not internal politics.

When Discrimination Affects How IA Treats Complaints

Internal Affairs investigations are influenced by the same biases that affect any workplace. The New York State Attorney General’s Office has acknowledged disparities in how civilian complaints are handled, especially when complainants come from marginalized groups. Some people describe feeling patronized. Others sensed investigators doubted them because of race, disability, age, or neighborhood.

Discrimination can also appear in:

• Investigators questioning your credibility without cause.
• Dismissing complaints from certain communities at higher rates.
• Ignoring patterns of abuse that affect specific groups.

Bias in an accountability system is itself a civil rights issue.

What Internal Affairs Won’t Tell You About Other Paths Forward

Internal Affairs is not your only option, and often not your strongest one. Victims are often surprised to learn they can pursue justice through multiple systems at once.

Potential next steps include:

• Filing a complaint with an external oversight agency or inspector general.
• Requesting public records that Internal Affairs did not disclose.
• Pursuing civil rights litigation where your case is evaluated by neutral courts.
• Filing state-law claims that bypass police protections entirely.

Civil lawsuits require evidence, not Internal Affairs approval.

The Power of Gathering Your Own Documentation

If Internal Affairs won’t investigate properly, you can still build a strong record of what happened. Many civil rights cases succeed because victims took early steps that preserved crucial details.

Helpful forms of documentation include:

• Writing your account immediately, tone, gestures, timing, commands, everything you remember.
• Saving photos, videos, medical records, or clothing from the incident.
• Identifying witnesses and asking them to share what they saw.
• Keeping texts or emails with Internal Affairs, especially unhelpful or dismissive responses.

Documentation becomes your shield when the department fails to protect you.

When the Community Holds the Missing Pieces

Victims often assume their story stands alone, but patterns of misconduct rarely start with one person. Communities sometimes hold the answers Internal Affairs refused to examine. Neighbors may share similar experiences. Local organizations may have tracked prior complaints. A single officer may have harmed others who were too afraid to file reports.

You may discover:

• Social media posts describing similar encounters.
• News articles about prior incidents involving the same officer.
• Public records showing repeated complaints the department downplayed.

These threads strengthen your case and reveal that your story fits into something larger.

Your Next Move: Taking Back Control

Internal Affairs is not the final authority on whether your rights were violated. Courts, oversight systems, and independent investigators carry far more weight. What matters is not whether IA believed you, but whether your evidence, your harm, and your truth stand up under legal scrutiny.

And they often do.

At Horn Wright, LLP, our experienced civil rights attorneys help victims move past Internal Affairs roadblocks, gather proof, and pursue justice through avenues the police department cannot control. If Internal Affairs dismissed your complaint, contact us and we’ll help you take the next step with clarity, confidence, and a team that refuses to ignore your story.