Citizen's Complaints

A citizen of the City of Piedmont may file charges for any violation of the City Ordinances that they witness. In some cases it may be necessary for you to file in order to bring charges against someone, as a Police Officer may not file misdemeanor charges for an offense not committed in his presence. You must be able to identify the person you are charging of committing the crime. The exception to this would be an animal complaint, but you must be able to identify the animal involved.

File a Complaint

To file a citizen’s complaint you should come to the Court Clerk’s Office Monday through Friday during regular business hours. The court clerk will give you the necessary forms to file your complaint and explain the process. There is a $25 filing fee. The fee will be refunded to you once the case has gone to court, but if you dismiss the case before it goes to court, you will lose the filing fee you have posted.

Once you have filed your complaint it is forwarded to the City Prosecutor for review and approval. If the complaint is found to have merit, a copy of the complaint will be served to the party the complaint is against. Both you and the party the complaint is against will be required to be in Court. You will be responsible for proving your case against them. If you have other witnesses you should bring them with you. You can have them subpoenaed by the court but there will be a $15 witness fee charged for each witness you subpoena.