Crying "Wolf!" is still a thing...

 

I was angry and disgusted to read that a member of a church security team called in a false report, apparently in an attempt to make himself look like a hero.

According to the Burnet County Sheriff's Office, a thorough investigation revealed that details of the incident were significantly "fabricated."

Court documents say 45-year-old Jacob Wayne Tarver, a safety team member at the Church at the Epicenter, recklessly fired three shots at a home and pond near the church, then lied to law enforcement about the incident.

Tarver allegedly admitted to police that "he made up the story" about someone walking near the church and firing "warning shots" to scare them away. According to the affidavit, Tarver said he made up the story to "embellish" what he did and lied to authorities at the scene, during a walkthrough investigation and during his polygraph interview.

The investigation determined there were no hostile actions taken or directed at the church by anyone, and no weapons were displayed toward the church safety member. The congregation's safety was also never in jeopardy, according to authorities.

Tarver told authorities he was "embarrassed" for not telling the truth. He was then arrested and charged with misdemeanor false report to induce an emergency response, felony tampering or fabricating physical evidence and felony deadly conduct.

There's more at the link.

In today's climate of suspicion and xenophobia, such false claims might have led to "retaliation" against people of Muslim or Arab appearance.  We've already seen that happen in this country.  Even more tragically, some of the retaliators don't bother to make sure of their targets, such as the Sikh who was murdered on suspicion of being a Muslim (he wasn't).

The perpetrator has, of course, destroyed his own trustworthiness by his false claims.  Even worse, that stigma will carry over to his family.  If he has kids at school, their classmates will taunt them (at the very least), and that may deteriorate into open bullying and rejection.  His church will no longer trust him with any position of authority (and it should not), even though it may forgive him.

Such false claims also "poison the well" for future real incidents of terrorism or vandalism.  Investigating or responding officers now have to take into account the possibility that the report(s) is/are false.  If they see something suspicious, they can't simply react to it without first confirming that it is suspicious - not without risking subsequent accusations of negligence or carelessness.  That may put their lives at risk in a real situation.

All that because one man couldn't resist the temptation to play the hero.  Did he never read Aesop's Fables as a kid, particularly the one about the boy who cried "Wolf!"?

Peter