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Lawsuit filed over false reporting law
It is hard enough to be a victim of police brutality. Victim advocates say it can be even harder to report it. A lawsuit filed in federal court Thursday suggests a recent Minnesota law has the potential to silence anyone who has a complaint about police. The suit is over a law passed by the legislature two years ago, making it a crime to file a false report of police misconduct. Members of the organization, Communities United Against Police Brutality, say it has a chilling effect on people who have even legitimate claims. "We believe this deters reports of criminal conduct by police because people are afraid that they could end up with a felony charge," Jill Clark, the attorney who filed the lawsuit said. "It allows the police, the very same police who have in some cases brutalized you, to just decide whether your complaint is valid. We don't know of any other profession where the very same people who do the act could actually decide whether that act was criminal," Michelle Gross with the group Communities United Against Police Brutality explained. DFL representative Debra Hillstrom co-authored the bill. She says to be charged with anything investigators have to prove the person knowingly and willingly made a false report. Hillstrom says the law protects officers who are falsely accused. "The intent was not to stop people who have a legitimate claim to file a claim," Hillstrom said. "The minute an officer is put on administrative leave it makes the press, it makes the news. It's on TV. It's in the paper, so much of the time there's an assumption that officer is guilt immediately even if they find the report was filed falsely." The group filing the suit says the law violates the First Amendment. They hope a federal judge will strike it down as unconstitutional. No one has been charged under the false reporting law since it was passed in 2005. According to Communities United Against Police Brutality, the group receives 25 to 30 complaint calls about alleged police misconduct each month.
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