Opinion ID: 4237794
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: “Initiates a False Alarm or Report”

Text: That understanding of the term “report” provides a more clear suggestion of what “initiate[ ] a false alarm or report” means in the context of law enforcement questioning that the person did not initiate. Text and context suggest that a person “initiates a false alarm or report” if the person’s communication “begin[s]” or “mark[s] the beginning of” informing the organization about the circumstances that are the subject of the report. In the context of questioning initiated by law enforcement, that suggested meaning includes, at a minimum, falsely reporting new circumstances to which the law enforcement agency is reasonably likely to respond as a separate, ongoing crime or emergency. Conversely, the text and context suggest that a person does not violate ORS 162.375 during law enforcement questioning by falsely confirming or denying knowledge of a report or alarm that already is under investigation, or by falsely conveying information about circumstances to which the agency would be unlikely to devote resources, except for whatever relevance the information may have to an existing criminal investigation (i.e., by making a false statement that is not a “report”).