Overturn the Minnesota “False Reporting” Bill

To:  MN State Legislature

During its 2005 session, the Minnesota legislature passed a law making it a crime to “falsely” report police brutality. If found guilty, a person could be jailed for up to a year. This law is so vaguely worded that even journalists who report on incidents that can’t later be proven could be subject to prosecution. The law does not specify who would decide if a police brutality report is false—will it be the same police department the person is complaining about? This law is clearly meant to frighten people away from filing complaints against abusive police officers.

This new law is a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment right of free speech and right to criticize a branch of the government and demand redress of grievances. We, the undersigned, demand this law be overturned immediately and any prosecutions under this law be dropped.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Overturn the Minnesota “False Reporting” Bill Petition to MN State Legislature was created by CUAPB and written by Michelle Gross (mgresist@minn.net).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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