| scoreman |
10-13-2004 08:42 AM |
Anyone who calls a cop a fucking asshole imo gets a stupid award. There is really nothing good that can come out of this. I think most here are aware of this and the real question is what are the actual legal charges that could result.
Ok here is the legalese on this:
In general you can exercise criticism at the police. Most states have a disorderly conduct misdemeanor law that is generally modelled after a Supreme Court decision from the 1940s that held that freedom of speech does not protect "fighting words" or speech that could"tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace". Since the 1940s most of the Supreme Court and Appeals Court decisions have narrowed what is not permissible that today there virtually is no speech that can be called "fighting words". Particularly in the case of the police officers, there is a higher standard that cops have to endure because it is expected that there will be many situations where they will face vocal criticism from the citizens and they should not be flying off the handle getting mad about this as they are suppose to be professionals.
The reality is that if you call the cops names you invite severe scrutiny of you, your belongings, your car, your friends in your car and maybe even your house. Especially in the cases where there are no witnesses, calling a cop names can get you beat up and then charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest with violence, both serious felonies. Having seen many many many cases with these two exact charges, I can tell you that many of the defendants in those cases admitted to me that it all started when they started mouthing off to the cops.
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