HF 1909

as introduced - 83rd Legislature (2003 - 2004) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to crimes; prohibiting falsely reporting 
  1.3             police misconduct; providing penalties; amending 
  1.4             Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 609.505. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 609.505, is 
  1.7   amended to read: 
  1.8      609.505 [FALSELY REPORTING CRIME.] 
  1.9      Subdivision 1.  [FALSE REPORTING.] Whoever informs a law 
  1.10  enforcement officer that a crime has been committed or otherwise 
  1.11  provides false information to the officer, knowing that it is 
  1.12  false and intending that the officer shall act in reliance upon 
  1.13  it, is guilty of a misdemeanor.  A person who is convicted a 
  1.14  second or subsequent time under this section is guilty of a 
  1.15  gross misdemeanor. 
  1.16     Subd. 2.  [REPORTING POLICE MISCONDUCT.] (a) Whoever 
  1.17  informs, or causes information to be communicated to, a public 
  1.18  official, as defined in section 609.415, subdivision 1, or an 
  1.19  employee thereof, whose responsibilities include investigating 
  1.20  or reporting police misconduct, that a peace officer, as defined 
  1.21  in section 626.84, subdivision 1, paragraph (c), has committed 
  1.22  an act of police misconduct, knowing that the information is 
  1.23  false, is guilty of a crime and may be sentenced as follows: 
  1.24     (1) up to the maximum provided for a misdemeanor if the 
  1.25  false information does not allege a criminal act; or 
  2.1      (2) up to the maximum provided for a gross misdemeanor if 
  2.2   the false information alleges a criminal act. 
  2.3      (b) The court shall order any person convicted of a 
  2.4   violation of this subdivision to make full restitution of all 
  2.5   reasonable expenses incurred in the investigation of the false 
  2.6   allegation unless the court makes a specific written finding 
  2.7   that restitution would be inappropriate under the circumstances. 
  2.8      Sec. 2.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  2.9      Section 1 is effective August 1, 2004, and applies to 
  2.10  crimes committed on or after that date.