Penal Code 148.5 is the California law against making a false report of a crime. Specifically, this section applies when you make a false report of a misdemeanor or felony criminal matter to a police or peace officer, prosecutor, grand jury, OR state or local employee assigned to accept reports from citizens (such as a 911 operator). Penal Code 148.5 only applies when the person reporting the false crime knows it to be false. It is always a defense if the person has a good faith belief that the report is true, even if that belief turns out to be mistaken. Penal Code 148.5 is the California law against making a false report of a crime Applies to Solicited and Unsolicited Information Obviously the law applies to situations where a person takes the initiative to contact the police and make a false report. But it also applies to cases where a third party reports the crime initially, and the defendant gives a false witness statement once the police have begun their investigation. Example: You witness a fight on the street. Alan comes up and starts punching Billy for no apparent reason. Someone else calls the police. The police arrive and ask you for a witness statement. You falsely report that “Billy started it. He just started punching Alan for no reason.” Even though you were not the one who contacted the police to begin with, you are still liable under Penal Code 148.5 because you reported false information to the police about a criminal matter. As the courts have explained, “A person who voluntarily supplies information about a purported crime to a law enforcement officer makes a report, within the meaning of the statute, whether the information is supplied in response to a police inquiry or is unsolicited. The damage which section 148.5 seeks to avoid waste of law enforcement time and money, defamation of innocent reputations is just as likely to occur in a situation where the police have been called to a location by a third party, as it is when the defendant calls the police to the location or shows up at a police station and makes the false report.”1 Penalties for Making a False Report of a Crime Penal Code 148.5 PC makes it a misdemeanor to make a false report of a crime to the police or other authorities. As a misdemeanor, a person convicted faces up to six months in county jail. Penal Code 148.5 PC makes it a misdemeanor to make a false report of a crime to the police or other authorities In some cases, the judge may grant probation with little or no actual jail time. In deciding how much jail time to impose, the judge will consider the person’s criminal history, the person’s motive for making the false police report, and the consequences of the false report (such as whether it caused an innocent person to get arrested). Also, Vehicle Code 10501 VC makes it a separate crime to make or file a false report of a vehicle theft. Like PC 148.5, filing a false auto theft report is a misdemeanor. However, if this is not your first offense, that crime becomes a wobbler, which means it potentially carries felony penalties. If you’ve been charged with making a false report of a crime, don’t despair. People get wrongly accused of this all the time. You may have had a good faith belief that the crime really did occur. Or it may have been another person who made the false report but you got blamed for it.
