New Jersey bill would charge knowingly false police reports

In New Jersey, a made-up police complaint can send officers chasing a crime that never happened and put the wrong person under suspicion. Assembly Bill 5273 would amend the state’s false-report statute, N.J.S.2C:28-4, so a person who knowingly reports an offense or other incident that did not occur could face criminal charges.

It would also cover someone who pretends to give police information while knowing they have none. The target is intent, not a bad memory or a report that later turns out to be wrong.

What current law already covers

The existing statute already punishes knowingly giving false information to law enforcement with the purpose of implicating another person. That offense is a third-degree crime, and it rises to second-degree if the false information would falsely tie someone to a first- or second-degree offense.

The bill adds a separate focus on fictitious reports, so the law would speak more directly to a complaint or incident that was invented from the start.

Why the distinction matters

Fabricated complaints can waste police time, send investigators down the wrong path and turn a real victim into a suspect before the facts are sorted out. The practical effect is to give police and prosecutors a cleaner tool when a report is deliberately false.

The sponsors are Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger, Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia and Assemblywoman Victoria A. Flynn, with Assemblyman Al Barlas as cosponsor.