The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman can investigate complaints about:

  • the actions of Australian Federal Police (AFP) members (including ACT Policing)
  • the policies, practices and procedures of the AFP as an agency.

What we cannot help with:

We cannot investigate complaints about matters, including civil or criminal charges, which are being or have been dealt with by the Courts.

Before you make a complaint

Anyone can make a complaint about the AFP. You should try to resolve your concerns with the AFP before you make a complaint to us.

The Australian Federal Police’s Professional Standards team is responsible for the:

  • oversight and investigation of complaints about the actions of the AFP members.

The AFP’s Professional Standards will consider the matter or give less serious matters to a complaint management team.

If you are not satisfied after making a complaint to the AFP, you can contact us.

If English is not your first language, we can arrange for an interpreter. There are also procedures for people in custody to communicate confidentially with us.

How to complain

We can receive complaints:

Visit our contact us page for more information.

If you can, use our online form to submit your complaint.

In addition to our role receiving and investigating complaints about the AFP, we review and report on the AFP’s administration of complaint handling under Part V of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979. More information on this role is available here.