If you knowingly make a false police report, you could be charged with a misdemeanor crime.
At some point in your life, the need to call the police may arise. Perhaps you will be the victim of a crime yourself, or you may witness someone else committing a crime. Reporting a crime is an important responsibility in our society — and if you choose to falsely report a crime, you may be subject to criminal penalties for doing so.
Under California law, any person who reports that a crime has been committed to any police or peace officer, prosecutor, grand juror, or state or local employee assigned to accept reports from citizen and knows that the report is false is guilty of the misdemeanor crime of filing a false police report. You could be guilty of this crime in any number of ways, such as:
Calling 911 to report a crime
Going to a police station to report a crime in person
Giving information to a police officer who is investigating a crime, even if you did not initiate the initial report to the police (for example, if the police were called to the scene of a crime by someone else, and you were asked to give a witness statement)
Giving false information about any part of the crime (for example, if you truthfully reported that your car was broken into, but falsely claimed that items were stolen that were not taken from your car)
The key to this misdemeanor charge is that you know that the statement is false when you make it. If you voluntarily give information about a supposed crime to a police office, knowing that the information is false, then you could be guilty of the crime of filing a false police report.
The crime of filing a false police report is a misdemeanor. If convicted, you could be sentenced to up to 6 months in county jail.
Defending Against False Report Charges
With the help of a skilled criminal defense lawyer in Orange County, CA, it is possible to defend against false report charges. The first and best defense against the charges is that you did not know that your report was false. If you believed that your report was true at the time that it was made, then your report was not knowingly false. For example, if you believed that you left your camera in your car and it was stolen when it was broken into, but you later found it in a desk drawer and amended your report to the police, you would not have committed the crime of filing a false police report because you did not knowingly provide false information to the police. At the time that you made the report, you believed that your camera was stolen.
It could also be a defense that you did not actually file a report. If you were unaware that the police were investigating a crime, or that an officer was taking something that you said as a police report, then you did not file a report.
If you have been charged with the crime of filing a false police report, then you will need a skilled criminal defense lawyer. In Orange County, CA, the Chambers Law Firm offers high quality legal representation for anyone charged with filing a false police report or related crimes. Contact our office today at 714-760-4088 or dchambers@clfca.com to learn more or schedule a free initial consultation.
