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Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-16-502

False reports

Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case State v. Levandowski (1997)

Most recently applied in State of Tennessee v. James Hawkins (May 2017)

Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 1; 1990, ch. 1030, § 28; 1998, ch. 690, § 1; 2000, ch. 976, § 1; 2002, ch. 849, § 6.

How often courts cite this section

199720002010201710
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) It is unlawful for any person to: Initiate a report or statement to a law enforcement officer concerning an offense or incident within the officer's concern knowing that: The offense or incident reported did not occur;

(2) The person has no information relating to the offense or incident reported; or

(3) The information relating to the offense reported is false; or

(4) Make a report or statement in response to a legitimate inquiry by a law enforcement officer concerning a material fact about an offense or incident within the officer's concern, knowing that the report or statement is false and with the intent to obstruct or hinder the officer from: Preventing the offense or incident from occurring or continuing to occur; or

(5) Apprehending or locating another person suspected of committing an offense; or

(6) Intentionally initiate or circulate a report of a past, present, or impending bombing, fire or other emergency, knowing that the report is false or baseless and knowing: It will cause action of any sort by an official or volunteer agency organized to deal with those emergencies;

(7) It will place a person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury; or

(8) It will prevent or interrupt the occupation of any building, place of assembly, form of conveyance, or any other place to which the public has access.

(9) A violation of subdivision (a)(1) or (a)(2) is a Class D felony.

(10) A violation of subdivision (a)(3) is a Class C felony.

Current official text: Tennessee Code (LexisNexis). Digitized from the UniCourt Code Improvement Commission public-domain capture. Reproduced from public-domain Tennessee statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.