ACLU challenges law against filing of false police complaints

Friday, Sept. 28, 2001 | 9:29 a.m.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Metro Police oppose a Nevada law that allows police departments to submit misdemeanor charges to district attorneys for prosecution of people who allegedly file false complaints against officers.

However, a lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Reno by the ACLU to join a Northern Nevada case that seeks to overturn the law that was passed by the Nevada Legislature in 1999 is sure to pit both sides against each other.

At the heart of the issue are allegations filed earlier this month by Assemblywoman Kathy Von Tobel, R-Las Vegas, against Metro officers she says she saw beat up a man in her neighborhood.

Ironically, Von Tobel was part of a unanimous body that passed the anti-false complaint legislation.

One of the officers, Oscar Fulton, denied the allegations and told the Sun in a Sept. 18 story that if Von Tobel does not retract the allegations, he will ask the county to pursue misdemeanor charges against her of filing a false complaint based on the very law she helped pass.

"This law clearly is meant to intimidate and discourage people from filing complaints," ACLU of Nevada Executive Director Gary Peck said Thursday. "Police can use your statement as a basis for prosecuting you."

Lt. Stan Olsen, in charge of intergovernmental services for Metro, said his testimony before lawmakers clearly shows that Metro opposed the legislation from the start -- presumably because of situations like this.

"Metro opposed the legislation because we felt it would have a chilling effect," Olsen said. "Only the sheriff and the commander of Internal Affairs have the authority to submit cases, but Metro has never once used this law."

The legislation, which had the support of police unions and passed the Senate with little opposition, also was opposed by the Washoe County Sheriff's office and the Nevada Sheriffs and Chiefs Association, Olsen said.

The motion filed Thursday says that if the ACLU is allowed to intervene, it will "argue that (the law), which selectively criminalizes defamatory citizen complaints against peace officers but no other public officials is unconstitutional on its face and under the First and 14th amendments."

Von Tobel and others who claim to have been victims of police harassment, filed affidavits with the suit. Von Tobel's affidavit reads in part:

"I now feel threatened with criminal prosecution for making a truthful report to Internal Affairs about an incident I witnessed. The report was made at the request of police. One of the officers who was a subject of the report now can ... intimidate a witness to this event into withdrawing a report of it."

The man she saw with police has been identified as Julian Walvoord, 35, who was treated at St. Rose Dominican Hospital and later released.