North Eastern Division police are asking the public to avoid exaggerating police reports or complaints to get their attention, as this may qualify as making a false report and wasting police time.

Responding to questions during a town hall meeting at the Aranguez Community Centre, on Thursday afternoon, legal officer for the North Eastern Division Insp Harripersad said there have been instances where people deliberately falsified details to try to get police to deal with the situation more urgently.

He said the police encouraged everyone to report crimes, but making a report that was misleading could lead to their arrest.

"It is becoming very prevalent. It is my observation, having come to this division, that a number of times we find ourselves so wanting to get the attention of the police that we exaggerate our reports."

This resulted, he said, in "a great strain on the investigators of these reports to get to the truth in a timely manner.

"Now we have to be very careful how we do that, because as the Assistant Commissioner has said, there is the offence of wasteful employment of the police time, and based on how far people go to stretch the story or to exaggerate the story, they may commit other offences and become liable to those."

Harripersad also warned that once a report was made and an investigation initiated, the investigators would eventually find out whether the details were false.

ACP Joey Samaroo of the Northern Division also urged the public to make genuine reports, as fake ones would direct officers' attention and resources away from legitimate crimes.

"There are some people who are very malicious and go to the police station to make false reports, and (then) when the police are supposed to be on the road patrolling or dealing with your reports or dealing with a robbery or a rape, they are running down an investigation that turns out to be false.

"We want to maximise our resources in the North Eastern Division so that we can please each one of you genuinely."