Filing Criminal Complaints

Several years ago in West Virginia the law was changed regarding who could file criminal complaints. Under the previous law a private individual could initiate a criminal complaint against someone else.

However, this led to constant abuses:

1. People would file retaliatory complaints then come into Court hoping to play an “I’ll drop mine against you if you drop yours against me”;
2. Additionally, people were always coming to Court and dismissing the charges they filed when everyone calmed down and made up;

Now a police officer files the Complaint after an investigation. The officer is the Complainant and the “victim” is a witness. Only the Police Officer or the Prosecutor now has the authority to dismiss charges prior to a hearing.

-Steve Taylor