CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – A woman was recently arrested for falsely reporting a robbery.
According to a news release, Sherry Stock told police that while getting out of her car at Family Dollar May 7 she was approached by a young black male with a knife in his hand.
Stock told police that the man reached reached for her purse and cut her with a pocket knife when she pulled away.
Investigators watched surveillance footage from the store and determined that the incident never occurred.
Stock was taken into custody and charged with filing a false report.
Clarksville police released the following information about why false reports are serious crimes:
Why Publicize False Report Arrests?
First, the following are facts about the investigation (resources utilized for a crime that did not occur):
1. The Officers on the scene spent almost 1 hour investigating what took place.
2. 11 CPD Officers responded to the call, which includes 2 K9s that were called to track the suspect. This was a large scene and multiple Officers were used to secure the perimeter and process the scene.
3. A Medic Unit was on scene, due to Stock stating she was injured from the alleged robbery.
4. Finally, Filing a False Report is a felony.
Next, who is affected?
EVERYONE! Yes. You could be affected. False reports generate unnecessary public fear or concern, take personnel away from other calls for service- increasing response time for real victims, and an innocent person could be accused of a crime that did not occur because he or she matched the description given.
If it weren’t for the video footage showing that there was no crime, which led to Stock’s confession, there’s no way to tell how much more time and effort would have been put into this investigation.