Wasting Police Time

Wasting police time is a criminal offense in many Commonwealth countries, criminalizing the knowing provision of false reports or false information to police that consumes police resources on a matter that is not genuine. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland it is charged under section 5(2) of the Criminal Law Act 1967 as knowingly making a false report of a criminal offense, a safety threat, or other material police information, punishable by up to six months imprisonment, a fine, or both. Scotland treats the same conduct as a common law offense, New Zealand punishes it under section 24 of its Summary Offences Act 1981 with up to three months imprisonment or a fine, and Canada's Criminal Code section 140 makes false statements accusing others or falsely reporting offenses punishable by up to five years imprisonment when prosecuted on indictment. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/