Gov. Ron DeSantis says the latest Florida legislation to target “swatting” will combat an “ideological bent” in malicious, false reports to police.
DeSantis spoke to Fox News about his plans to sign HB 279.
“We’ve had actually SWAT focused on conservative media personalities throughout the country, including in Florida. So there has been somewhat of an ideological bent to this,” DeSantis said on “America’s Newsroom.”
The bill targets false complaints resulting in an emergency response, making it a third-degree felony if the report causes great bodily harm or permanent disfigurement or injury, and a second-degree felony if someone dies due to false reports.
Moreover, the bill cuts the number of false reports requiring a felony penalty from four to two, and puts the false reporter on the hook for the costs of prosecution and investigation, as well as for restitution for material damages to victims.
Beyond the targeting of people on the Right, DeSantis says the bill protects all Floridians.
“The bill I’m going to sign today is the strongest in the country,” DeSantis said.
“The officers who are going, they think it’s a legitimate call, so they’re going to behave as if there is a suspect in the home. The resident, they have no idea what the hell’s happening. And so you end up in situations where you can have lethal force that are engaged. So the people that are doing this are committing really serious offenses, and I appreciate that we’re going to hold them accountable with criminal sanctions, but also the restitution, because it costs money to have to do all this stuff.”
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