False statements to police are actually protected by the law!

What happens to the person who falsely accused me of a felony or drug offense?

A quick Google search shows that being falsely accused of a crime by a disgruntled lover, family member, business partner, employee, or random other person is not uncommon.  People with a grudge, it seems, are not afraid to lie to the police, even if they know their lies will be discovered as soon as the police follow up on the false report.

People who are suddenly arrested by the police understandably may be alarmed, frightened, angry, even aggressive.  That is true even for people who know they have done nothing wrong - sometimes, innocent people are especially upset at being treated like a criminal.

What's frightening is that today's cops are more sensitive than ever to certain kinds of highly sensational accusations, such as terrorism, kidnapping, and other violent crimes.  The suspect's otherwise normal reaction to being arrested may be interpreted as far more dangerous and requiring the use of far more force than if the police believed they were arresting, for example, a domestic abuser.

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any way to successfully sue someone for sending the police after you for no reason.  Why?  Because talking to the police, even to lie about someone, is absolutely privileged.  Liars cannot be held accountable for negligently or intentionally giving the police false information.  This protection is supposed to encourage people to speak freely to the police.  However, the protection for giving knowingly false information goes too far in my opinion.

Worse, the police themselves do not usually do much to follow up on someone who has given them false statements.  While such conduct is a misdemeanor, it is very rare for the police to pass along such a file to the prosecuting agencies, and the prosecutors very rarely (if ever) actually file charges.  On top of that, the statute of limitations is only one year.

There IS a possible claim for malicious prosecution if you have actually been arrested and charged but have been found not guilty or the charges were dropped because you were able to prove that you were factually innocent.  Other than that, it looks like the wrongfully accused have very little recourse.