Civil rights · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 · nationwide
When your rights are violated, the evidence has to be found.
Doug Roberts is a private investigator who works on one kind of case: civil rights violations and Section 1983 actions. Excessive force, false arrest, jail and prison abuse, in-custody deaths, and wrongful convictions, investigated for attorneys and families nationwide from Sheridan, Wyoming.
Request a ConsultationTypes of Cases
- Civil rights cases only
- For attorneys and families
- Cases accepted nationwide
100%
Civil rights cases
The practice takes no other kind of investigation
§1983
The statute
42 U.S.C. § 1983, the law behind nearly every case
50
States
Investigations accepted nationwide
1871
Year enacted
Congress created the right to sue in the Civil Rights Act of 1871
Case types
One kind of case: violations of civil rights.
Each type of claim has its own legal standard, and that standard decides what evidence matters. Select a case type to see what an investigation looks for.
Why timing matters
Evidence does not wait. Neither should the investigation.
Surveillance systems record over themselves within days or weeks. Agencies delete body camera footage on fixed schedules. Scenes are cleaned and repaired, and witnesses move away. The law also sets strict deadlines for bringing a claim. The sooner an investigation begins, the more there is to find.
Investigative services
How the facts of a civil rights case are established.
Lawsuits against government officials are won on evidence the government did not collect, or did not disclose. Select a service to see what it involves.
Scene Investigation & Documentation
What could each person see, hear, and reach?
Civil rights cases are decided on details: how far apart people stood, what the lighting was, where the camera could and could not see. Doug Roberts documents the scene so those details are measured facts rather than recollections.
Best suited to: Use-of-force, shooting, arrest, and search cases.
- Photographs and video of the scene as it exists
- Measurements, distances, and scaled diagrams
- Lighting, lines of sight, and obstructions
- Locations of cameras that may have recorded the event
Witness Location & Interviews
The people who saw it, found and on the record
A police report names the witnesses the officers chose to interview. A civil rights investigation looks for everyone else: the neighbor at the window, the passenger in the next car, the person in the adjoining cell.
Best suited to: Every civil rights case. Independent witnesses are often decisive.
- Neighborhood and scene canvasses
- Locating witnesses who have moved or been released
- Recorded interviews and written statements
- Declarations prepared for the attorney's use
Video & Digital Evidence
The recording is the best witness, if it survives
Video has changed civil rights litigation more than any court decision. But most video is erased automatically, often within days. Locating it and preserving it is the most time-critical work in any investigation.
Best suited to: Cases where the events themselves are disputed.
- Body-worn and dash camera footage identified and requested
- Private surveillance and doorbell video canvassed
- Bystander and social media video located and captured
- All sources synchronized into one timeline
Public Records & Document Requests
What the agency wrote down, before it was a lawsuit
Government agencies document nearly everything they do. Those documents are often available under public records laws before a lawsuit is ever filed, and they frequently contradict the official account.
Best suited to: Early case evaluation, and municipal liability claims.
- Requests under state public records laws and federal FOIA
- Incident, arrest, and use-of-force reports
- Dispatch, 911, and jail records
- Policies, training materials, and prior complaints
Officer & Agency Background Research
Prior conduct, and what was done about it
An officer's history, and an agency's response to it, can be central to a civil rights case. Background research assembles that history from court records, public records, and open sources.
Best suited to: Claims against supervisors and municipalities, and credibility issues.
- Federal and state court records of prior lawsuits
- Complaint and discipline history where it is public
- Certification and decertification records
- Employment history across agencies
Pattern, Policy & Practice Evidence
Proving the agency, not only the officer
A city or county is not liable under Section 1983 simply because it employs the officer. The claim must show that the agency's own policy, custom, or failure to train caused the violation. That proof comes from investigation.
Best suited to: Municipal liability claims under Monell.
- Prior similar incidents identified and documented
- Written policies compared with actual practice
- Training records and gaps
- What decision-makers knew, and when
Independent Case Review & Reinvestigation
Testing the official account against the evidence
When an agency investigates itself, the result is rarely the whole story. An independent review tests the official account against the evidence, and reinvestigates what the first investigation left undone.
Best suited to: In-custody deaths, shootings, and wrongful conviction claims.
- Reports, statements, and video compared line by line
- Inconsistencies and omissions identified
- Leads the first investigation did not follow
- A chronology of the event and the investigation
Litigation Support for Attorneys
An investigator who works only on civil rights cases
Civil rights attorneys work against well-funded government defendants. Doug Roberts provides the investigative support those cases demand, working at the attorney's direction from intake to verdict.
Best suited to: Plaintiffs' civil rights attorneys and firms, in any state.
- Pre-suit evaluation of the available evidence
- Written reports and organized exhibits
- Locating witnesses and parties
- Testimony about the investigation when required
Why Civil Rights PI
An investigator who does nothing else.
Civil rights litigation has its own rules, its own defenses, and its own kinds of evidence. Doug Roberts works exclusively in this field.
Civil rights only
The practice handles civil rights cases and Section 1983 actions exclusively. No domestic, insurance, or corporate work.
Built around the law
Each investigation is planned around what the claim requires: the Graham factors, deliberate indifference, Monell, and qualified immunity.
Evidence preserved early
Video, records, and witnesses are identified first, before retention schedules and fading memories erase them.
Independent
The official account is tested against the evidence, and the findings are reported candidly, whichever way they point.
Court-ready work
Reports state the source of every finding, and exhibits are prepared for depositions, motions, and trial.
Nationwide
Based in Sheridan, Wyoming, with investigations accepted for attorneys and families in every state.
Who the practice works with
For attorneys, and for the people they represent.
Civil rights attorneys
Pre-suit evaluation, investigation at your direction, discovery support, and trial preparation for plaintiffs' firms in any state.
Individuals and families
If your rights were violated, or someone you love was hurt or died in custody, early investigation preserves the evidence an attorney will need.
Advocacy organizations
Fact-finding and pattern evidence for civil rights organizations, legal aid programs, and innocence projects.
Evidence
What a civil rights investigation gathers.
Every item below can decide a case, and most of them can be lost if nobody asks for them in time.
- Body-worn camera
- Dash camera
- Jail and facility video
- Private surveillance
- Bystander video
- 911 and radio audio
- Incident and arrest reports
- Use-of-force reports
- Dispatch logs
- Jail records
- Policies and training
- Complaints and discipline
- Independent eyewitnesses
- Detainee witnesses
- Pattern witnesses
- Before-and-after witnesses
- Photographs and video
- Measurements and diagrams
- Lines of sight
- Lighting and conditions
- Court records
- Certification history
- Employment history
- Open-source material
How it works
From first call to final report.
- 01
Confidential consultation
You or your attorney describe what happened: the date, the place, the agency, and what is already known.
- 02
Preserve the evidence
Video, records, and witnesses at risk of being lost are identified and secured first.
- 03
Investigate
The scene is documented, witnesses are interviewed, records are obtained, and the official account is tested.
- 04
Report and support
Findings are delivered in a written report with exhibits, and support continues through litigation.