It’s against the law to make a false statement to a police officer as part of an official investigation or making one that would lead to an investigation.
If you admit to murdering Judge Crater, and they investigate (after all, you could have murdered him recently as a late add to some long time kidnapping plot) and decide that you were wasting their time, they could arrest you for making them waste their time. If you made false statements like “2+2=7” as part of an investigation and you got called as a defendant or witness, I can guarantee you that that statement would turn up in court to reflect your credibility.
As for making run of the mill false statements to police for the fun of it, it’s not against the law per se, but if you persisted you could be charged under some kind of nuisance law.
In Virginia, making false statements to a police officer in an effort to “knowingly obstruct” him in the performance of his duties is guilty of “Obstructing justice,” a Class 2 misdemeanor.
It is also illegal to “…knowingly give a false report as to the commission of any crime to any law-enforcement official with intent to mislead…” and violations of this are a Class 1 misdemeanor.
So far as I can discern, it’s not violative of any law to tell a cop a lie if it is unrelated to his duties, or to a crime.
So your Judge Crater confession might technically be a violation of the false reporting statute; it depends on what your intent was. It is of no moment whether the officer believes you or not, but you could make a pretty compelling argument that such an outrageously false report showed that you had no intent to mislead. Still, theoretically, that would be a question of fact for the jury to decide, assuming you were charged. The reality, of course, is that no prosecutor would go forward with it.
Your math and color lies are almost certainly legal.
And remember, I’m speaking only for Virginia.
The Police CAN & DO lie their butts off to you. If you are ever arrested do not beleive a word they say*. Do not try to “talk them out if it”. Do not lie. If they read you your rights you are a suspect, so SHUT THE FUCK UP. Ask for your lawyer, repeatedly. Do not believe them if they say it will go harder on you if you drag your lawyer into it: they are lying- even if you are as guilty as hell, your attorney can ALWAYS get a better “deal”.
There is the best “free advice” you could get.
for example, if they say your partner confessed & ratted you out, remember the DA has to give your attorney ALL the evidence he has.
so why can they lie to you but not your lawyer? What if you decide to represent yourself? how can still say that you had been ratted out when you hadn’t?
the DA is not the Police. The DA should not lie to you or your attorney, except in a general opinion way “I think I can get a jury to bring in a guilty verdict”. If the Police lie to you, and you can prove it, you MIGHT be able to get that testimony thrown out, but why risk it?
Look, the cops lie everyday and get away with it because they are in power. People in power go on head trips. That’s it.
I was arrested last year for possesion on 4th of July last year. A neighbor complained about some fireworks, so they showed up.
To begin with, the cop walked right into my backyard without coming to my door or asking permission to enter my backyard. He cleared my friends out of the house and began to lambast my brother and I. He never patted ANY of us down. He called like 4 other fascists to the scene and TORE my house apart.
After 2 hours of searching, he came up with less than a gram of MJ. My brother nad I had been in cuffs for the last hour and a half or so because we couldn’t tell him about the “stuff” he found in our house!
So anyways, LOOOOONG story short, the police report comes back saying I invited him to enter my house voluntarily, and that he recovered 18.6 grams of dope. I got a lawyer(a lousy one apparently), and the judge said that the poor fascist was afraid for his life and therefore had the right to rifle my house to hell and back.
So, basically, the cops get the right to lie and cheat and violate YOUR rights for, and I’m sorry for saying this again Daniel, “The Greater Good”. This cop got nothing but a little pot dust to show for all of his hard work, and he didn’t get to see the fireworks show right by my house! LoL
One of my friends even saw the group of cops huddled around my steak eating it! and one of the cops came out to my brother and I and said “Good steak, but I like mine a medium well”, while he was picking his teeth!
