Making a False Report

Sending us a false report is a form of "Public Mischief" and is punishable by law.

Public Mischief

Public Mischief is when someone provides false information that causes a police officer to start or continue an investigation unnecessarily. The effect of Public Mischief is that it causes a police officer to spend time and public money in a futile investigation and deprive the public of their services for other matters.

Examples of Public Mischief:

• Making a false statement accusing another person of an offence. Example: A person says "I saw Gerry Smith painting on the school wall", knowing all the time it was not true.
• Doing anything intending to cause some other person to be suspected of an offence the other person did not commit, or diverting suspicion from oneself. Example: Planting evidence in someone else's car.
• Reporting an offence, when in fact it has not been committed. Example: A person reports their car stolen, knowing that it has not been stolen.

Criminal Code

In order to proceed to the Report It form, you must read the following excerpt from Section 140 (Public Mischief) of the Criminal Code of Canada:

1. Every one who commits Public Mischief who, with the intent to mislead, causes a peace officer to enter on or continue an investigation by:
   1. making a false statement that accuses some other person of having committed an offence;
   2. doing anything intended to cause some other person to be suspected of having committed an offence that the other person has not committed, or to divert suspicion from himself;
   3. reporting that an offence has been committed when it has not been committed; or
   4. reporting or in any other way making it known or causing it to be make known that he or some other person has died when he or that other person has not died.
2. Every one who commits Public Mischief:
   1. is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; or
   2. is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.