Focused representation for people harmed by police misconduct, excessive force, wrongful arrest, jail abuse, and other government misconduct in North Carolina.
When government power causes serious injury, prolonged detention, or death, early investigation matters. Power In Protection evaluates select civil-rights cases, preserves critical evidence, and develops claims with the care and urgency they require.
Body-camera footage, surveillance video, dispatch records, witness accounts, medical evidence, and agency policies can determine whether a civil-rights case can be proven. Contacting counsel promptly gives the legal team the best opportunity to identify deadlines, preserve evidence, and evaluate the government conduct involved.
The firm focuses on serious matters in which a police officer, jail official, municipality, or other government actor may have violated a person’s constitutional rights.
Not every unfair encounter creates a viable civil-rights claim. The facts, available evidence, responsible parties, injuries, and applicable deadlines must all be evaluated.
Our team gathers the essential facts, identifies urgent preservation issues, and determines whether attorney review is appropriate. If the matter appears to fit the firm’s criteria, Attorney Darlene Harris evaluates the legal issues, potential defendants, damages, and next investigative steps.
Submitting an inquiry does not create an attorney-client relationship. Representation begins only after conflicts are cleared and a written agreement is signed.
POLICY CHANGE
Advocacy arising from police conduct during Charlotte protests contributed to meaningful changes in CMPD policy. Read the coverage of the resulting policy reforms.
Attorney Harris also secured a unanimous 9–0 Citizens Review Board ruling for a woman wrongly detained by CMPD. Read the WFAE coverage.
SIX-FIGURE RESULTS
The firm has obtained six-figure recoveries in civil-rights matters. Every case depends on its own facts, law, injuries, and evidence.
EXPERIENCED PERSPECTIVE
More than a decade of legal experience, including criminal defense and federal civil-rights litigation, informs every case evaluation.
As a Black woman attorney and founder of a Black-owned, women-owned law firm, Darlene Harris brings lived perspective, more than a decade of legal experience, and a sustained commitment to representing people harmed by police and government misconduct. Before building her civil-rights practice, she practiced criminal defense for ten years. That background helps her understand arrests, criminal proceedings, use-of-force evidence, and the consequences that follow government misconduct.
She serves in leadership within the North Carolina Advocates for Justice Civil Rights Section and represents clients in serious civil-rights matters throughout North Carolina.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Not necessarily. A dismissal may be important, but a civil claim depends on what officers knew, whether legal justification existed, how long the person was detained, the evidence available, and other circumstances surrounding the arrest.
As soon as possible. Evidence may be deleted or overwritten, witnesses become harder to locate, and strict notice or filing deadlines may apply. Early contact allows counsel to evaluate preservation needs and the applicable time limits.
No. Civil-rights litigation is complex and resource-intensive. The firm focuses on cases involving serious injury, death, significant detention, or substantial constitutional harm supported by facts that can be investigated and proven.
Provide the incident date and location, involved agency, charges and case outcome if applicable, length of detention, injuries and treatment, available photographs or video, witness information, and any reports or correspondence you received.
If police or government misconduct caused serious harm, submit the essential facts so the firm can determine whether the matter warrants further review.
