Though the new year is still young, 2010 has already had its share of something that police officers in our area say they see too much of already — false reports.

The story of a young Mauldin girl found unconscious in a local park garnered a lot of attention on New Year’s Day and over the course of the next few days. The girl said she had been attacked, and a 911 call allegedly from her attacker seemed to corroborate her version of the events.

But police later said the teen had faked it all — the attack, the 911 call and even injured herself — because she was dared to, police say.

Dares can be funny — sometimes.

But faking a police report is never funny. It wastes valuable time and money, and takes police officers away from the areas they’re really needed.

Last week the Sentinel reported on three locals who are accused of attempting to extort money or a vehicle from the alleged victim.

According to police, the accused allegedly said they would accuse their victim of criminal sexual conduct if he did not go along with their alleged extortion plot.

People who file false police reports are often out for revenge against those they feel have done them wrong — only to wind up with a rap sheet themselves for wasting the police’s time.

Sometimes people file false reports to try and throw police off their own trail, or simply to cover up for something illegal, or just embarrassing that they did to themselves.

If only they’d just own up to what they did, instead of splashing around in the messes they’ve made, piling on more charges and fines on top of whatever they were originally facing.

Others think faking a 911 call or filing a false police report isn’t a big deal or is “just a goof.”

If someone died while the police or EMS resources they needed were called away on a false report, there wouldn’t be anything funny about it, and the 911 faker or the person who filed the fake report could find themselves liable for their actions.

We want our local enforcement to be able to use their time and resources effectively — by cleaning up our streets and putting away those who endanger us.

We’d much rather our tax dollars go to support police helping people, rather than being needlessly spent on wild goose chases, searching for suspects that never existed in the first place.

We worry that false reports could create a “Boy Who Cried Wolf” scenario here in the area amongst good Samaritans. We worry that people, having been burned before by those who lie for their own purposes and amusement, may turn away from someone who may genuinely need help.

Fake information leads to very real problems for our local police.