Bill Description: Senate Bill 1019 would broadly define and criminalize acts to falsely report violence or an emergency.
Rating: 0
Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the United States Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the US Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?
Senate Bill 1343 would create Section 18-3313A, Idaho Code, to address "swatting," which the bill defines in its intent language as "the act of maliciously or recklessly submitting false reports in order to send an armed law enforcement response to private or public places." Such an act, it says, "presents a grave danger to the health and safety of both citizens and law enforcement in this state."
The bill says, "any person who reports, or causes any report to be made, to any police officer, sheriff, employee of a police department or sheriff's office, employee of a 911 communications system or emergency vehicle dispatch center, employee of a fire department or fire service, prosecuting attorney, newspaper, radio station, television station, deputy sheriff, deputy prosecuting attorney, member of the state police, employee of an airline, employee of an airport, employee of a railroad or bus line, employee of a telephone company, occupants of a building, employee of a school district, or news reporter in the employ of a newspaper or radio or television station that an emergency exists in a public or private place, knowing that the report is false, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment not to exceed one (1) year or a fine of no more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or both."
If a violation of these prohibitions results in damages in excess of $1,000 or someone suffers "great bodily harm, permanent disfigurement, or permanent disability," the crime becomes a felony with a penalty of up to 5 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $25,000.
If a violation of this law results in "the death of any person," the crime becomes a felony with a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $25,000.
Individuals have the right to be secure in their homes and property, not subject to unreasonable searches and seizures (or flashbangs being thrown through their windows) because someone maliciously or recklessly submits a false report to solicit an armed law enforcement response against someone they dislike or want to harm.
(+1)
Does it directly or indirectly create or increase penalties for victimless crimes or non-restorative penalties for nonviolent crimes? Conversely, does it eliminate or decrease penalties for victimless crimes or non-restorative penalties for non-violent crimes?
Unfortunately, the defining elements of “swatting” are missing from the crime created by this bill. There is no requirement that a false report be submitted "maliciously or recklessly." There is also no requirement that the false report be intended to solicit "an armed law enforcement response." There is not even a requirement that someone file a false report, merely that he or she "causes" a report to be made.
The bill does not define "emergency," yet it criminalizes falsely reporting one — not just to law enforcement, but to a host of private entities and businesses, and even to "occupants of a building" (which could include almost anyone.) This language goes well beyond the concept of swatting and could include, for example, a lie told as an excuse for being late to work or a prank, such as unnecessarily triggering a fire alarm.
Instead of narrowly criminalizing swatting, this bill defines and criminalizes a variety of actions that could theoretically result in an outcome similar to what swatting is designed to cause.
Intentionally soliciting a SWAT raid is a serious offense that could have deadly consequences, but there are many possible motives for telling a lie in one of the ways criminalized by this law. It would be appropriate to hold someone accountable for telling a lie that unintentionally triggered an unnecessary emergency response but that is a far less sinister crime than swatting.
Swatting is a crime of intent and a law to criminalize it should include the intent in its definition of the crime. Maliciously or recklessly submitting false reports to solicit an armed law enforcement response is a distinct crime, and it requires more than telling a lie that has unintended consequences.
(-1)
