Internal Affairs

The Internal Affairs Division, staffed by a police captain, serves to perform investigations for the Sheriff’s Department in incidents involving Department personnel.

The Sheriff of Allen County believes that Officers and employees of the Department should be held to the highest standards. Internal Affairs investigates citizens complaints made against officers as well as inmate complaints against jail staff.

Internal Affairs is involved in pre-employment screening of persons seeking employment with the Sheriff’s Department and represents the Department at State and Federal Court proceedings.

It is the policy of the Allen County Sheriff’s Department to investigate all complaints of alleged misconduct or criminal misconduct on the part of all members and to equitably determine whether the allegations are valid or invalid and to take appropriate action. Anonymous complaints shall be carefully reviewed for validation before disregarding them for the lack of a credible complainant.

The Sheriff of Allen County has the ultimate authority to determine the disposition of all administrative investigations and to dispense discipline based on the facts of the case.

All complaints, including first person, third person and anonymous complaints will be accepted and investigated for validity. These complaints can come to the department in person, phone call, U.S. Mail, or email through this website. The Allen County Sheriff’s Department will request contact information from the complainant in order to obtain additional information needed to investigate the allegations.

The steps of the investigation will include:

1. Initiation of the investigation via complaint.

2. Investigation of the complaint by Internal Affairs.

3. Review of the investigation by the Sheriff.

4. Possible Judgements:

Sustained – There was sufficient information to prove the allegation.

Not Sustained – There was not sufficient information to either prove or disprove the allegation.

Exonerated – Incident occured, but was lawful and proper.

Unfounded – The allegation is baseless or false.

Closed by Exception – The investigation was closed by the direction of the Sheriff or the complainant withdrew the complaint.

5. Complainants will be notified at the conclusion of the investigation of the outcome.

If your complaint involves a Fort Wayne Police Department Officer, call FWPD Internal Affairs at 427-1230

We welcome anonymous complaints, but would like to speak with you directly about your concerns. If you provide your contact information, anonymity will still be provided. If contact information is provided, you should hear back from our department within five (5) business days.

To file a complaint, please fill out the form below.

  • Date and time of incident
  • Location of incident
  • Name of Officer and/or brief description
  • Brief description of car driven
  • Briefly describe the issue you wish Internal Affairs to address
  • Name
  • Phone number
  • E-mail address
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Lt. AJ Pape – Phone: 260-449-7171