Have you or a loved one been charged with filing a false police report? If so, this can carry potential jail time, a fine, and lasting impacts on your employment, potential employment and higher education aspirations. A false reports to law enforcement authorities can be a serious charge. In addition to this charge, you or your loved one can also face a false swearing charge as well. As such, please do your research before retaining a lawyer. Some law firms practice not only criminal law, but also personal injury and possibly family law. Here at the Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall, our practice is almost exclusively to criminal and quasi-criminal matters. Our Bergen County Criminal Defense Firm has the following to help you or your loved one facing this charge:
- Eleven (11) criminal defense attorneys on staff
- Combined together, over 200 years of experience
- Eight (8) former prosecutors on staff
- Four (4) were former county prosecutors who’ve tried high-profiled murders trials before a jury during their tenure as prosecutors
- Many held directorial positions during their tenures as former assistant county prosecutors
- One (1) was the head of the Drug, Gang, and Gun Task force
- One (1) was the head of the Major Crimes Division
- One (1) was the head of the Trial team
- Multiple attorneys selected to either the National Trial Lawyers Top 100 or Top 40 Under 40
- Two (2) attorneys selected to Thomson Reuters’ Super Lawyers Rising Stars list for criminal defense
- Only 2.5% of attorneys in New Jersey are selected to said list
- One (1) attorney certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Criminal Trial Attorney
- Less than 1% of attorneys hold this distinction in New Jersey
Please give our office a call if you or a loved one has been charged with a filing a false police report crime at 201-201-0086. We are available 24/7.
Hackensack Filing a False Police Report Lawyer
Filing a false police report is codified under New Jersey as 2C:28-4. This can either be charged as a fourth degree felony (indictable) or a misdemeanor (disorderly persons offense). In order to prove the fourth degree crime, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office will need to prove the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt:
- a person knowingly gives or causes to give false information to any law enforcement officer
- with purpose to implicate another for a crime or offense
As for the misdemeanor, a municipal prosecutor will need to prove that:
- a person reports or causes to report to law enforcement an offense or incident within their concern
- knowing it did not occur; OR
- pretends to furnish or causes to be furnished to law enforcement with information relating to an offense or incident
- when he/she knows he/she has no information relating to such offense or incident
Possible Penalties
If a filing a false police report is a fourth degree crime, and a conviction is entered on that charge, then a defendant can face up to eigtheen (18) months in a New Jersey state prison as well as up to a $10,000.00 fine. If it is charged as a misdemeanor, and a conviction is entered on that charge, then a defendant can face up to six (6) months in the Bergen County Jail, as well as a fine of up to $1,000.00.
Fort Lee Criminal Defense Attorneys
As you can tell from above, a filing a false police report charge can have a life altering impact on you or your loved one that is facing this type of crime. We have offices in Paramus, Hackensack, and Fort Lee. We are available 24/7, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 201-201-0086.