A warning that people see before filing complaints against Los Angeles police officers creates a barrier to free speech, the California Supreme Court ruled today in a long-running lawsuit over the language.

The high court ruled 6-1 in favor of the city of Los Angeles and against the union that represents its police officers in finding that the admonishment describing penalties for filing false has the potential to deter “citizens from filing truthful (or at least not knowingly false) complaints of police misconduct”.

The warning exhibits “numerous characteristics that, considered together, sufficiently burden a protected form of speech — namely, truthful (or at least well-intentioned) complaints of police misconduct — so as to warrant heightened constitutional scrutiny,” Associate J

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