Police time is wasted, taxes spent and justice abused from false claims

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Springfield area has seen its share of high-profile police manhunts triggered by lies. Sadly, some of the false statements have also included claims of brutal sexual assault. Neighbors fret, innocent people get questioned, and police waste expensive time.

Yet, when the fraud is exposed, little or no penalty seems to come to the liar.

More should be done to try to combat this problem.

Obviously, it cannot be eradicated. But we encourage local criminal justice officials to discuss the possibility of advocating an increase in the penalty for false reports -- at least the kind that trigger a great expense or result in wrongful arrests.'