To report police corruption to the FBI, submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov, call your local FBI field office (or 1-800-CALL-FBI), or file through the Department of Justice civil rights portal at civilrights.justice.gov. The FBI treats public corruption as its top criminal investigative priority and has direct federal authority to investigate local and state officers who violate constitutional rights, take bribes, or run protection schemes.1Federal Bureau of Investigation. Public Corruption
Where to Send Your Report
You have three practical channels. Pick one and submit your information once.
The FBI Online Tip Form
The fastest route is tips.fbi.gov. The form is designed to accept anonymous submissions, though the FBI cautions that anonymity may slow or prevent investigation of your tip because agents cannot come back to you for clarifying details.2Federal Bureau of Investigation. Electronic Tip Form
A Local Field Office or the Main Line
If you’d rather speak to a person, the FBI runs 56 field offices in major metropolitan areas across the United States and Puerto Rico, with contact numbers posted on its website.3Federal Bureau of Investigation. Field Offices The general line is 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).4Federal Bureau of Investigation. Contact Us
The DOJ Civil Rights Portal
The Department of Justice also accepts complaints at civilrights.justice.gov through a seven-step online form that allows anonymous submission. For law enforcement misconduct specifically, the DOJ directs people back to the FBI, so the FBI tip line remains the most direct path.5United States Department of Justice. Contact the Civil Rights Division
What to Include in the Report
The strength of a tip depends heavily on the specifics. Gather what you can before you submit, but don’t wait to file just because a detail is missing.
- Officer identification: names, badge numbers, physical descriptions, patrol car numbers, and the agency they work for.
- Time and place: the date, time, and specific location, including a street address if possible.
- Evidence: photos, cell phone or surveillance video, and copies of medical records documenting any injuries.
- Witnesses: names and contact information for anyone who saw what happened.
- Factual narrative: a clear, chronological account of what the officers did. Describe what you saw and heard. Skip legal conclusions about which laws were broken.
A report with concrete officer identifiers, a precise timeline, and supporting evidence moves through screening far more efficiently than a vague complaint.
What Happens After You Submit
The FBI’s National Threat Operations Center evaluates incoming tips and routes them to the appropriate field office. In many cases the FBI does not call the tipster back, though agents sometimes reach out when they need more information to develop leads.6Federal Bureau of Investigation. Inside the FBI Podcast – Submitting Tips to the Bureau Providing contact information improves the odds of follow-up but is not required.
If a tip clears screening, a Special Agent may schedule an interview. Findings are forwarded to the local U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., which make the final decision on whether to prosecute.7Federal Bureau of Investigation. Civil Rights
Federal prosecution of police officers is rare. Prosecutors decline the majority of civil rights referrals, in part because the willful-intent standard under the main civil rights statute is deliberately high: evidence has to show the officer consciously intended to violate someone’s constitutional rights, not just that the outcome was bad or that a policy was broken. Filing is still worth doing. Even declined reports contribute to a record that can support later investigations when patterns emerge.
The Federal Laws That Let the FBI Act
The FBI does not supervise local police. Its authority to investigate officers comes from specific federal criminal statutes.
The central one is 18 U.S.C. § 242, which makes it a federal crime for anyone acting under government authority to willfully deprive a person of constitutional rights.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 242 – Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law The phrase “under color of law” means the officer was using power that comes with the badge, even if the specific act exceeded what they were authorized to do. A traffic stop that turns into a shakedown fits, because only the badge made the stop possible.
A companion statute, 18 U.S.C. § 241, covers conspiracies where two or more people agree to violate someone’s constitutional rights.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 241 – Conspiracy Against Rights This applies when a group of officers work together or an officer coordinates with civilians to target someone.
Penalties scale with harm. A basic § 242 violation is up to a year; bodily injury or use of a dangerous weapon pushes it to 10 years; death, kidnapping, or sexual abuse under either statute can carry any term of years up to life, or the death penalty. Federal charges exist independently of anything a state or local prosecutor does, which matters when the local system is itself compromised.
What Kinds of Misconduct Are in Scope
The FBI focuses on criminal acts that violate federal law, not internal policy issues like paperwork failures.
Bribery and Extortion
Officers who accept payments to look the other way, tip off suspects, or leak confidential information commit federal crimes when those acts affect interstate commerce. Extortion covers officers using their authority to demand money, services, or favors under threat. Both fall under the Hobbs Act, which carries up to 20 years.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1951 – Interference With Commerce by Threats or Violence
Excessive Force and Sexual Misconduct
When an officer’s use of force crosses from tactical mistake into deliberate violation of rights, it becomes a federal civil rights case. Sexual assault by officers is treated the same way. The FBI specifically identifies sexual misconduct during traffic stops, in jails, and in other settings where officers use their position to coerce someone as a color-of-law violation.7Federal Bureau of Investigation. Civil Rights
Protection Rackets and Evidence Tampering
Officers who guard drug shipments or shield illegal gambling operations from other law enforcement fall within the bureau’s mandate, as do officers who fabricate probable cause, plant evidence, or commit perjury.
Protections Against Retaliation
Reporting a fellow officer or a local department carries real risk, and federal law recognizes that. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1512, retaliating against someone for communicating information about a federal crime to law enforcement is itself a serious federal offense, with penalties that escalate from harassment (up to 3 years) through intimidation and threats (up to 20 years) to physical force (up to 30 years).11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1512 – Tampering With a Witness, Victim, or an Informant
The FBI also operates a Victim Services Division that places victim specialists in field offices around the country. If you are identified as a victim in a federal investigation, you may receive crisis intervention, emergency travel assistance, referrals for counseling and housing, and case-status notifications through the Victim Notification System. Victim identity is kept confidential.12Federal Bureau of Investigation. Victim Services
Time Limits and the False-Report Warning
Federal civil rights charges against officers generally must be brought within five years of the incident under 18 U.S.C. § 3282.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3282 – Offenses Not Capital The exception: when misconduct resulted in someone’s death and the charge is death-eligible, no time limit applies. If the incident happened years ago, don’t assume the window has closed. The five-year clock runs from the offense date, and ongoing schemes can extend the timeline.
Knowingly filing a false report is itself a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1001. A materially false statement to a federal agency carries up to five years in prison.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1001 – Statements or Entries Generally Honest mistakes and gaps in your knowledge are not the concern; what the statute reaches is fabricating events, inventing witnesses, or knowingly misrepresenting what happened. Accurate reporting, even if incomplete, keeps you safely within the law.
If the Problem Is the Whole Department
Individual prosecution and department-wide reform are separate tracks. Under 34 U.S.C. § 12601, the Attorney General can bring a civil lawsuit against a law enforcement agency when there is reasonable cause to believe a “pattern or practice” of conduct violates constitutional rights, sometimes resulting in court-enforced consent decrees that overhaul training, supervision, discipline, and hiring.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 34 USC 12601 – Cause of Action
In May 2025, the Department of Justice announced it was dismissing lawsuits and closing pattern-or-practice investigations opened under the prior administration into police departments in Louisville, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Trenton, Memphis, and several other jurisdictions, and said it would focus instead on criminal prosecution of individual officers.16United States Department of Justice. Civil Rights Division Dismisses Biden-Era Police Investigations and Proposed Police Consent Decrees The pattern-or-practice statute remains on the books, but if your concern is department-wide corruption, the current federal approach is officer-by-officer prosecution rather than structural reform of the agency. That’s the channel your report will feed.