Instructions and Information

Related Pages & Info District Attorney's Office Public Nuisance Task Force     District Attorney's Office Public Nuisance Task Force 3 South Penn Square Phila., PA 19107 215.686-5819

oll Call Complaints provide a means for informing patrol officers of chronic neighborhood problems or conditions that are not of an emergency nature. This initiative is designed to be an effective, proactive response to neighborhood concerns.

For instance, Roll Call Complaints are frequently used to report groups of disorderly teens that routinely congregate on local street corners. Likewise, this mechanism has been successfully used to inform the police department of special community events so that officers can provide additional security. Basically, any non-emergency problem or condition that the police patrol force should be made aware of can be reported using the Roll Call Complaint protocol.

Once we receive the report, it is posted on a complaint board that is routinely read to officers during six daily roll calls. These announcements continue for a minimum of fifteen calendar days. The information reported in the complaint is recorded by the individual officers in their patrol notebooks and are responded to by patrol officers between calls for service.

Following the initial fifteen day announcement and response period, the complainant may be contacted and a follow-up review initiated. If, following this review, the complaint has been definitively resolved, the case is considered closed. If, however, the problem or condition still requires police attention, the complaint will be reinstituted for an additional fifteen days and may be the subject of additional, specifically tailored problem-solving measures aimed at satisfying the need for final resolution of the problem.

Please include as much information as you can in the form provided. Incomplete or inaccurate information will delay processing of this report and may compromise our ability to quickly and effectively respond.

Please note that you may remain anonymous, however, if you choose to do so we will be hampered in our ability to elicit additional information from you that might aid us in attaining a long-term solution to this problem. Consequently, your anonymity may compromise the efficacy of our efforts to resolve the problem in a satisfactory manner.

If you elect to provide us with your identity, we will treat it as confidential information and will not disclose it outside this agency except as required and permitted by law.