Resources for Police Accountability

Police violence and misconduct can be traumatic, confusing, and intentionally difficult  to navigate. These resources are here to help you know your rights, legal options, and next steps —whether you experienced the harm, know someone who did, or are working to hold systems accountable.

Below you’ll find information for people directly impacted by misconduct or violence from local police or federal law enforcement, as well as materials for organizers, advocates, and attorneys working to prevent harm and demand accountability.

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Get Help

If you or someone you know has experienced misconduct at the hands of local police or federal agents, including ICE, these resources can help you take the next steps toward justice and accountability.

Find an Attorney

If you or someone you know has been harmed by local police, federal agents, or correctional officers, finding a lawyer is a crucial first step.

This directory can help you find civil rights attorneys in your area by selecting your state from the drop-down menu. Even if you are not yet sure that you want to file a lawsuit, we recommend reaching out to an attorney as soon as possible to discuss and preserve all of your options.

Manual for Victims of Police Violence

This manual is a practical guide to legal avenues for holding law enforcement accountable. It will walk you through what to expect and how to prepare to take legal action.

It walks you through how to document injuries and events, preserve evidence, identify witnesses and video sources, and keep a clear record of medical care and follow-up. It’s designed to help survivors and families navigate common barriers and take steps towards pursuing accountability.

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Know Your Rights

Know Your Rights Guide: Police At the Polls

English / Español

The presence of law enforcement officers at polling locations can be intimidating to many voters–particularly voters of color–and deter them from exercising their constitutionally protected right to vote. While many election laws and rules are state-specific, this document provides general guidance on your rights when interacting with the police and federal law enforcement agents while voting.

Know Your Rights Guide: ICE At the Airport

The increased law enforcement presence—and particularly the increased presence of an aggressive, violent ICE agents—is understandably a cause for concern for many travelers. This guide outlines what to expect and what your rights are when interacting with ICE and other law enforcement officers at the airport.

Know Your Rights Guide: Protestors

Prepared in partnership with the National Lawyers’ Guild, this guide aims to give people thinking about going to or organizing a protest information about best practices for interacting with law enforcement in-the-moment, as well as advance information to consider in order to assess risk and prepare for possible police encounters.

Know Your Rights Guide: Federal Law Enforcement Deployments

This guide explains what to expect during federal deployments, how to protect yourself during an encounter, and what rights remain in force when multiple agencies are involved. It also outlines practical steps for documenting misconduct and reporting harm when federal law enforcement violates people’s rights.

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Get Informed

If you’re training your community, responding to harm, or organizing for policy change, these materials will help you build knowledge, document misconduct, and advocate to defend our democracy. 

What the Midterms Results Mean For Police Accountability

The electoral changes coming out of the fall 2026 midterms have raised questions about how the shift in power might impact police accountability, including consequences for federal law enforcement officers like ICE.

This is a short explainer on how certain elected officials and legislative bodies could use their power to hold police and ICE accountable.

Please note that municipal and state-level powers may vary based on the specific laws of each jurisdiction.

Using State POST Boards to Hold Cops Accountable and Reform Police Departments

This guide helps members of the public file complaints with their individual states’ Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Boards.

Though they receive little public attention, most states have an agency with the authority to ban dangerous law enforcement officers from becoming or remaining a police officer. This report is designed to help you navigate your state’s POST Board and what it means for your power to hold police accountable.

Local Law Enforcement’s Duty to Intervene In Federal Agents’ Misconduct

At a time when federal immigration enforcement increasingly takes place in local communities, this resource outlines the legal responsibility of local law enforcement to intervene when federal agents violate people’s constitutional rights. This resource includes what this duty entails, what legal claims can be brought against local officers who fail to intervene in federal agents’ misconduct, as well as key cases that have held local officers accountable for standing by as federal agents violated people’s rights.

Choosing Resistance: A Brief Guide for Local Action Against National Guard and Federal Law Enforcement Deployments

This guide offers practical, local strategies for responding when the National Guard or federal law enforcement agencies are deployed in your community. It outlines common patterns—escalation, jurisdictional confusion, and expanded surveillance—and how local officials, advocates, and communities can document harm and assert oversight. It’s designed to help organizers and local leaders act quickly, protect residents, and reduce the risk of abuse.

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Barriers to Holding Police Accountable

Qualified Immunity

Qualified immunity is a court-created doctrine that shields police officers and other government officials from civil accountability—even when they violate people’s constitutional rights—unless a court has already ruled on nearly identical facts.

This resource explains how qualified immunity works, why it blocks so many civil rights cases, and how it allows courts to dismiss cases without ever deciding whether the conduct was unconstitutional. It also outlines why civil rights lawyers across the political spectrum oppose qualified immunity and how eliminating it is critical to ensuring accountability, clarifying the law, and preventing future abuses of power.

Absolute Immunity for Prosecution

Absolute immunity is a judge-made doctrine that shields prosecutors from civil lawsuits for misconduct tied to their role as advocates in the courtroom—even when they intentionally violate constitutional rights, withhold evidence of innocence, or fabricate evidence.

This resource explains why absolute immunity exists, how it works in action. It also outlines the real-world consequences of absolute immunity, including wrongful convictions and the near-total absence of professional discipline, and describes policy reforms needed to restore accountability within prosecutorial systems.

Liability of Police Employers

Unlike most employers, cities and counties are rarely held legally responsible when police officers violate people’s constitutional rights. 

This resource explains how doctrines like Monell liability limit accountability for police employers, why courts require victims to meet extraordinarily high standards to sue cities and counties, and how secrecy around officer misconduct makes these cases even harder to bring. It also outlines how these rules weaken incentives for police departments to properly hire, train, supervise, and discipline officers—and why employer liability is a key area for reform. 

Barriers to Suing Federal Law Enforcement

Unlike state and local police, federal law enforcement officers are largely shielded from civil lawsuits when they violate constitutional rights. There is no federal statute equivalent to Section 1983, and courts have steadily narrowed the limited pathways that once allowed people to sue federal officers directly. 

This resource explains how the Supreme Court’s restrictions on Bivens actions have created barriers to suing federal agents for misconduct, leaving people with few avenues to pursue accountability, even in cases of serious harm.