while no doubt this is grounds for jail time or fines, do you think a search of this depth is warranted? And how is that not wasting way more police time?
No I don't think it's a good reason to do such an invasive search.
Though I also don't think they should just drop the investigation if they have evidence there was a real crime committed (the false police report). I sure don't know anyone who committed a felony, got busted, but then was allowed to just walk away because it was a hassle to prosecute them. As for the effort, I'm sure they have some digital forensics tool that will search anything for them these days. Probably just one case among many that one person is working on at this point.
