West Des Moines and Clive police, plus the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, spent hours on what they call a "fictitious" report of a body being dumped in water.
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — On Tuesday, the West Des Moines Police Department spent hours on what they call a "fictitious" report of a body being dumped in water. Now, they are speaking out on how investigating serious claims that turn out to be false can be costly, in more ways than one.
Sgt. Jason Heintz of the West Des Moines Police Department said investigating Tuesday's claim took hours.
Alongside West Des Moines police, West Des Moines Fire and EMS, Iowa DNR and Clive Police also helped investigate the claim.
Heintz said while the police department takes all claims seriously and wants people to report anything they deem fit, when ones like Tuesdays aren't true they can be costly.
"Obviously we want everyone to report everything that they can to us," Heintz said.
He said he doesn't know the specific price of what Tuesday's search cost, "but it was hefty."
Heintz also noted false claims take his officers away from what they need to be doing.
"It takes a lot of resources and time away from the public safety cluster that is out there to actually answer real calls that people are calling in with us," Heintz said.
However, Heinz noted not many similar incidents have occurred in recent memory.
Local 5 reached out to other police departments to ask if they have ever dealt with a situation like Tuesdays.
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