It is argued that complaints against police raise broader questions of police power and police accountability, which necessitate the consideration of changes to procedures for dealing with complaints in their sociopolitical context. A number of suggestions for orienting research and theory-building are made, including the specification of six models of police complaint procedures. The article goes on to present overviews of two recent Canadian developments in the handling of complaints against the police, the first in Metropolitan Toronto, the second in the province of Manitoba. Both developments incorporate greater reliance on civilian staff in the complaints procedures. The importance of civilian involvement to the perception by the public of the procedures as fair is considered in each case. Both are discussed, making use of the conceptual suggestions contained in the earlier part of the article. (Publisher abstract)