CARSON CITY — The issue came to the forefront in a viral video from New York’s Central Park last summer: After a birdwatcher asked a dog owner to leash her dog, the exasperated woman called 911, telling a dispatcher that she felt threatened by the Black man, who filmed from a distance.
Amy Cooper, who eventually apologized, was charged with a misdemeanor count of filing a false report to police, a charge that was later dismissed.
If Nevada Assembly Bill 157 becomes law, the victims of alleged bogus police reports on the grounds of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or physical or mental disability would be allowed to bring civil action against the reporting parties.
The legislation was presented by Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno, a Southern Nevada Democrat, before the Assembly Committee on Judiciary.
Under current state law, people accused of filing deliberate false police reports can be charged with a misdemeanor. Additionally, law enforcement agencies can bring civil suits against them to recoup expenses from the emergency response. But civilians cannot bring a lawsuit for damages.
“I think we can all agree that at the very least, these occurrences represent a misuse of our law enforcement personnel wasting their time and taxpayer resources,” Monroe-Moreno told legislators, mentioning the New York incident. “More importantly, they cause serious mental, and even at times, physical harm to the victims of such incidents.”
In a time of national reckoning over race and following nationwide antipolice brutality demonstrations last summer, “we need to find ways to rebuild trust,” said Monroe-Moreno, a retired North Las Vegas Police corrections officer. “I believe that AB157 can be a part of these efforts.”
Under the proposed bill, a violation would incur the accuser a $1,000 fee, in addition to whatever civil damages a jury may award. The legislation is not intended to to deter people from reporting legitimate crimes.
Several states already have similar laws, including Oregon and New York, Monroe-Moreno said. No data was offered to highlight how prevalent the problem is in Nevada.
An opponent of the bill, Marjorie Malleck, told lawmakers the bill would set a dangerous precedent in which people would be afraid to call police unless “they already have evidence to prove the claim.”
The American Civil Liberties Union in Nevada, the city of North Las Vegas, and the Clark and Washoe county public defenders offices were some of the organizations that supported the bill during the hearing.
“There is no good reason to not provide people with rights. AB157 gives these victims a way to recover for the trauma caused by the police encounter spurred by the prejudiced callers,” said Liz Davenport, legislative aide with the ACLU of Nevada.