When is falsifying records a big deal? A brief primer

Just so we're clear, because sometimes it can be confusing: Let's review when falsifying records might result in serious prison time.

Cops in Houston in a ticket rigging scam get probation for falsifying information on traffic tickets which real people had to pay. A Hill County Sheriff and his subordinates who falsified training and other records also all got probation.

But a self-styled "sovereign citizen" filing phony "liens" against a judge that no one would ever conceive he might actually have to pay: That guy gets 10 years, federal.

Because, when the public are victims and police are perpetrators, it's a small-ish, excusable offense. When the victim is an Important Person, we throw the book at them.

Grits harbors little sympathy for the sovereign citizen folk but the fake liens they file are worthless and there's no chance any court at this point would take them seriously. (Some of the documents are in fact laughably funny - I used to periodically run across them back when I performed opposition research.) These fake liens might merit some sort of criminal-justice response - or you could create a mechanism to administratively ban people who engage in malicious filings - but it's hardly worth 10 years in prison for the equivalent of leaving a bag of flaming poo on the porch and ringing the doorbell.

By contrast, Grits considers it much more serious business when public servants falsify information on traffic tickets - which are a formal accusation of criminal conduct, even if only a Class C misdemeanor - or when police training records are faked.

No one will ever make that judge pay a phony debt, but someone could be falsely accused when a cop lies on a ticket, or faked training records could allow an insufficiently trained officer out in the field. The consequences from those crimes are much greater, even if the punishment is much less.