Everyone who hasn't been living in a cave for the last century or so knows that false reporting of a crime or infraction is, in itself, against the law. It distracts emergency and law enforcement personnel away from serious matters, and could easily result in an actual criminal getting away — or an actual emergency response being delayed, which could end horribly.
That said, false reporting seems to be a tactic that is increasingly being used to screw with states that have passed what are known as "bathroom laws," specifically, laws requiring people to use the bathroom corresponding to their actual sex.
Utah is just the latest state to be dealing with this.
Transgender activists have flooded a Utah tip line created to alert state officials to possible violations of a new bathroom law with thousands of hoax reports in an effort to shield trans residents and their allies from any legitimate complaints that could lead to an investigation.
The onslaught has led the state official tasked by law with managing the tip line, Utah Auditor John Dougall, to bemoan getting stuck with the cumbersome task of filtering through fake complaints while also facing backlash for enforcing a law he had no role in passing.
Note the tone here, bemoaning the fact that the Utah Auditor has to enforce a law "he had no role in passing." Of course, he had no role in passing it, as he's not a legislator, but enforcing it is his job, and he should get on with it.
In the week since it launched, the online tip line already has received more than 10,000 submissions, none of which seem legitimate, he said. The form asks people to report public school employees who knowingly allow someone to use a facility designated for the opposite sex.
Utah residents and visitors are required by law to use bathrooms and changing rooms in government-owned buildings that correspond with their birth sex. As of last Wednesday, schools and agencies found not enforcing the new restrictions can be fined up to $10,000 per day for each violation.
There are a couple of takeaways from all this.
First, the activists will get tired of this, very likely within a few weeks. Most of these people have the attention span of a bluebottle fly, and they will quickly find something else to be outraged about. That's generally how these things go.
Second, if a few of these malcontents don't get tired of it — how hard would it be, given the resources of the state of Utah, to track down a few of these people and charge them for false reporting? Charge them with a misdemeanor, fine them, warn them, and publicize it, pour encourager les autres.
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Utah isn't the only state to be dealing with this.
In Virginia, Indiana, Arizona and Louisiana, activists flooded tip lines created to field complaints about teachers, librarians and school administrators who may have spoken to students about race, LGBTQ+ identities or other topics lawmakers argued were inappropriate for children. The Virginia tip line was taken down within a year, as was a tip line introduced in Missouri to report gender-affirming health care clinics.
Erin Reed, a prominent trans activist and legislative researcher, said there is a collective understanding in the trans community that submitting these hoax reports is an effective way of protesting the laws and protecting trans people who might be targeted.
Erin Reed is wrong. A "collective understanding" isn't worth an ounce of the product of the micturition process of a member of the genus Rattus.
This kind of response to a new law isn't a legitimate response; it is akin to a spoiled toddler throwing himself on the ground in a full-blown temper tantrum. The state of Utah — and the other states — should smack down a few of the malefactors, and smart money says that the problem would dry up pretty quickly.
