Closed petition make wrongly reporting someone to a law enforcement agency a criminal offence

Closed on 22 September 2018

At present people who deliberately mislead the police by making false accusations may be prosecuted for a number of offences such as wasting police time or attempting to pervert the court of justice. There is no similar offence where malicious claims are made to other law enforcement agencies.

There are regular prosecutions for wasting police time. Where a person acting maliciously reports his victim to the local authority, the RSPCA, trading standards, health and safety executive, the benefits agency, etc. the effects on the victim can be equally distressing, as well as costly in time and money for both the victim and the investigating agency. Civil redress would usually involve the High Court with a defamation action or similar and is beyond the means of many victims.