Again, I did not say that. What I said was that lying about policy violations in the course of an investigation IS criminal-even if prosecutors avoid charging the police, as they prefer to do.

I never said that? At least in this case, but since you ask, that would depend on the exact violations and reasons why.

Moreover, normal people can be charged for lying in the course of an investigation-why should that not apply to police of all people?

I fail to see how lying about policy violations is not lying during a criminal investigation.

Also, the idea that every crime/degree requires proof of malicious intent to do criminal harm is fiction.