Can you curse or flip off a cop?

Question

If a cop walks by can you say FU cop without being fined or anything?

Answer 1

uhm...its called an insult at an officer....if u wann b a tough guy do something else but dont insult the authority

Answer 2

This happened in the state in which I prosecute. A juvenile female walked by a police car, flipped off the two officers seated in the squad and said, "FU pigs." She was promptly prosecuted for Disorderly Conduct.

The trial court convicted her, but she appealed the case. The appellate court reversed the conviction holding that the 1st Amendment protected such speech since it did not amount to "fighting words." These are words that by their very utterance would be likely to incite a breach of peace (such as a fight). The court reasoned that police officers are held to a somewhat higher standard than the typical citizen and, by implication, have to be thicker-skinned than the average citizen.

But, your question asks whether you can do this "without being fined or anything?" It's the "anything" part that will cause problems for anyone who decides to do something as unwise as this. Although the above-described defendant was ultimately found not guilty, she was subject to a prosecution that lasted over a year.

Answer 3

You can do it once. Let me put it this way before you start getting into trouble think about it, the cop is doing his job, ten minutes before he stopped you he may have been at a burglary where someone had all there stuff ripped off, or to a domestic dispute where the husband beat the hell out of the wife and kids cause he had a few too many beers, or perhaps a homicide where mom got mad at her child and put it in a tub of scalding hot water.
And your mad because you got a ticket is that right?
While you have a constitutional right to freedom of speech except California Penal code section 415 under disturbing the peace you will note a section about cursing, So go ahead you can do it once.

Answer 4

Sure. Free speech and all that.

But I have a few friends who are cops or ex-cops and they might arrest you for failing the attitude test, but charge you for something else.

I was in a line of cars at a drive in once and one of us (not me) yelled at a person we thought was a rent-a-cop. He approached us and told us that he was indeed a Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff. Yes, we were mistaken. Unfortunately, we had booze in the car, which was clearly visible, but which the cop, through some miricle, didn't see. We were stopped in the line, so we weren't going anywhere. As such, the cop could have just looked inside, seen the booze, and cited the lot of us and searched the entire car. Cop couldn't stop our car, but, since we were stopped already, he had us by the short hairs. Only luck saved us.

Sometimes, though, cops will lie a little to prove a point. They have power and you don't. Your rights are only as good as the cops' desire to tell the truth. You should nurture their desire to tell the truth by kissing their asses a little bit. Flipping them off doesn't nurture this desire.

I'm an attorney and I'm going to trial next week, because a cop got pissed off at my client, pulled her outside her house, and charged her with being drunk and in public. She wasn't in public until the cop got pissed and pulled her out of her house.

You question was can you be fined or "anything." You can't be fined, but you can be "anythinged".

Answer 5

No, I see people doing it all the time and nothing happens to them. And they're usually White people who are doing it. I'm just saying what I see. Old, middle age, and young too. This guy just the other day cussed out a cop because he was mad that the cop stopped him and gave him a speeding ticket. He was speeding, so I don't know why he felt as though he was in the right. And I've seen a woman cuss the cop out and then tear the ticket up right in front of his face before the cop pulled off. She just went on her merry way. No arrest made.

Answer 6

Yes you can, technically. But all the cop has to do is think of something to charge you with. Disturbing the peace if a child is around, possibly menacing. They will find something...most definetly, everyone does something wrong, specially if you curse in a threating manner, and definetly don't do it in a car, there are so many things cops can use against you in a car. But man there really is no reason to do that, cops may suck some times...but we are here to help and protect you...don't do drugs, and most likely you'll never have a problem with us...80% of all crimes are drug related....

Answer 7

Depends on where you are and what your doing:

Example: I had a guy flip me off when he drove by. I stopped him and wrote him a ticket for "Extending a portion of the body outside of the vehicle for purposes other than signaling" which is one of our laws.

I had a guy call me rude names while I was getting my food at a fast food place. (I had not said one word to this jerk, he just decided to be an A*H*. So I got in my car, pulled across the street and waited. You know what? That guy got into his car, pulled off the lot making a left turn without signaling....being the astute Officer that I was, I pulled him over and wrote him a ticket. Then I saw that he had a headlight out and I arrested him for that and towed his car.

If you curse in my community and it can be heard by others around the Officer, then you have committed Peace Disturbance as our ordinance does not allow profanity.

You know what? Where a Policeman (working) is...on the street in uniform or in their police car is their office. Why would you want to poop in their office? Remember, they know laws that you don't and can quote chapter and verse. My suggestion is to leave them alone. If they are not bothering you, why start something that is only going to cost you money, time and possibly a medical bill?

Answer 8

Sure you can. It's called freedom of speech. But, the cop will likely find something to charge you with such as public obscenity, resisting arrest, or something else. What goes around comes around. Be cool.

Answer 9

Last guy that did that to me as he was driving by got a slew of tickets to go with his finger. He had writers cramp after signing them all. I recommend that when you decide to flip off the cop, you ensure your lights on your car are working, your windshield does not have 5 cracks in it, your tags are not expired, your license is valid, etc etc. ..

Answer 10

no you can't. its considered to be offending the cop. your're actually not even supposed to say fu or flip someone off in public-you could get fined

Answer 11

In many areas there are local ordinances that prohibit vulgar language in public, and especially to city employees who are simply going about their business. You could be fined, jailed, or get your butt kicked so hard it wraps around your head like a bath towel ~ cop's choice.