Reupublican bill is just stupid! (examples, vs, abuse, government)
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I'm perfectly fine that a felony charge would be filed for anyone filing false police complaints.
A false complaint could potentially cost an innocent officer a promotion or even a job, effectively robbing him of thousands of dollars over a period of years.
Keep in mind, there is a difference between false, unproven and inaccurate. I'm looking at this as a person making up a complaint, not that the complaint can't be thoroughly substantiated.
Let's say a person goes into a police station and files a report that an officer was sexually harassing them during a police encounter. When the investigation is conducted, it's determined that the officer was out of town on vacation with his family during the alleged harassment. Further investigation finds that the officer had arrested the complainant's brother on a drug charge weeks before. I'd think a felony charge would be appropriate in that case.
There are a lot of smart people in Kansas. Why they put up with this stuff is mind boggling.
Kansas House Bill 2648: File false complaint about police, face felony charge
This new bill would now make any false complaint about a law enforcement officer subject to prosecution for perjury, a felony offense.
One attorney spoke in favor of the bill at the hearing. However, several other agencies including representatives from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department and Lenexa Police Department spoke in opposition to the bill.
1. Making false statements (18 U.S.C. § 1001) is the common name for the United States federal crime laid out in Section 1001 of Title 18 of the United States Code, which generally prohibits knowingly and willfully making false or fraudulent statements, or concealing information, in "any matter within the jurisdiction" of the federal government of the United States, even by mere denial.
2. Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or of falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding.
3. The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other (usually government) officials. Common law jurisdictions other than the United States tend to use the wider offense of perverting the course of justice....Generally, obstruction charges are laid when it is discovered that a person questioned in an investigation, other than a suspect, has lied to the investigating officers.
4. Filing a false police report is a crime according to both federal and most state laws. The crime involves a person who knowingly makes a false report to a police officer with the intent to disrupt a criminal investigation. The person must make the statement to a law enforcement officer or a peace officer in order to be found guilty, and the statement must be material to a criminal investigation.
5. Depending on the laws of each individual state, the crime of filing a false police report can result in misdemeanor or felony charges. Misdemeanors result in jail time of less than one year and may involve some small fines. A felony charge can result in imprisonment for longer than one year, and may involve heavier monetary fines.
In particular, the crime of filing a false report of terrorism is probably the most serious type of false report, since it deals with national security. Filing a false report of terrorism can result in a minimum prison sentence of 7 years, up to 20 years maximum even for first-time offenders. Also, a false report of terrorism may be prosecuted as a violent felony, even if the offender did not actually commit any violent acts.
In addition to criminal penalties, filing a false police report can expose the offender to additional civil lawsuits. For example, the false report may have caused damage or losses to persons who were named in the report. In that case, they may seek damages by filing a civil complaint against the offender.
There are a lot of smart people in Kansas. Why they put up with this stuff is mind boggling.
Kansas House Bill 2648: File false complaint about police, face felony charge
This new bill would now make any false complaint about a law enforcement officer subject to prosecution for perjury, a felony offense.
One attorney spoke in favor of the bill at the hearing. However, several other agencies including representatives from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department and Lenexa Police Department spoke in opposition to the bill.
why do you say it is stupid and why is it a Republican bill? Regardless of which side of the fence you are on, I am amazed that anyone would not realize the danger of false claims or reports. You find the bill mind boggling, I think many would think your reaction to the bill is mind boggling.
There are a lot of smart people in Kansas. Why they put up with this stuff is mind boggling.
Kansas House Bill 2648: File false complaint about police, face felony charge
This new bill would now make any false complaint about a law enforcement officer subject to prosecution for perjury, a felony offense.
One attorney spoke in favor of the bill at the hearing. However, several other agencies including representatives from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department and Lenexa Police Department spoke in opposition to the bill.
Without reading the bill, if you go to court, if are sworn under oath and make false accusations against a police officer to the judge, isn't that already perjury?
There are a lot of smart people in Kansas. Why they put up with this stuff is mind boggling.
Kansas House Bill 2648: File false complaint about police, face felony charge
This new bill would now make any false complaint about a law enforcement officer subject to prosecution for perjury, a felony offense.
One attorney spoke in favor of the bill at the hearing. However, several other agencies including representatives from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department and Lenexa Police Department spoke in opposition to the bill.
So, someone proposed a bill.....as you have noted there is opposition to the bill....and you are here attacking the state politically for putting up with this stuff?
Perhaps instead of rushing to create yet another bash Kansas thread you should think things out a little bit more.
It's actually HB 2698 and the relevant parts that are consistent with every slander/libel law in existence are:
Quote:
KS HB 2698, Sec 1 (a) - A member of the public who makes a complaint to a law enforcement agency against a law enforcement officer alleging misconduct on the part of the law enforcement officer shall be required to sign a sworn affidavit clearly stating the allegation.
OK, so the bill says if you are going to file a complaint against a cop for misconduct, you are going to have to make it official and sign your name to it before they'll move on it. Nothing unreasonable here. If you are going to jeopardize someone's livelihood, you better be willing to sign a statement saying your accusation is true to the best of your knowledge and be ready to back it up. This is followed by...
Quote:
KS HB 2698, Sec 1.c.1 - The form upon which a complaint is made shall include a statement advising the complainant that false complaints are subject to criminal prosecution for perjury.
OK, so the complaint form you sign will tell you that you better mean it, because your signature makes it an official statement in a court of law, where lying is called perjury, and perjury = bad. This is followed by...
Quote:
KS HB 2698, Sec 1.d.(1-2) - (d) If, during an investigation of a complaint, the investigating authority finds: (1) Any evidence that a crime was committed against a law enforcement officer, a copy of such evidence shall be submitted to the prosecuting authority; or (2) clear evidence that such complaint is false, such investigation shall be closed immediately and the law enforcement agency shall seek criminal prosecution against the complainant for perjury.
If we figure out you were lying and just trying to ruin someone with your false official statement, we'll slap you down so others behind you might think twice before making crap up to get cops in trouble just because they are pissed off about getting a speeding ticket.
The bill's sponsor is the Kansas House Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice, which I would assume is majority Republican, given that the Kansas House is 92-33 Republican-Democrat.
But I see nothing in the bill untoward, and I say this as a pretty fierce libertarian and defender of natural individual rights, who typically thinks even casual conversation by government is akin to tyranny. Law enforcement are individuals with natural rights to life liberty and property same as those they serve/protect, and like any other citizen, should have legal protection from and recourse for slanderous/libelous accusations. The best parts of the bill are not the "you have to sign an official statement, and it better be true or else" but rather the parts where it says once a statement is proven false, it is trashed, nuked, forgotten as if it never occurred and shall not be part of an officer's complaint file.
Remember, we live in a society where people call 9-1-1 if they get 9 chicken nuggets instead of 10 at the drive through, and think they are victims of police brutality if the officer doesn't say "please" after "license and registration." These complaints go in a file that dictates a person's future employment prospects, so they should only keep the ones that are valid, and they should discard the ones that are clearly false.
That's it. The Kansas legislature website got it wrong, but the solitary news article about the supposed bill got it right.
What is going on with people these days?!?!?!??!!
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