can you be arrested for cussing at a officer?

Answer 1

Yes,
I do believe so.
It is not a very good idea in any case.

Answer 2

In Canada, if you cuss loudly at an officer in a public place with other people around then you can be arrested for "causing a disturbance by swearing". If the officer believes you are about to commit a breach of the peace you may be arrested to "prevent a breach of the peace". If these two don't apply the officer may think up something else that applies, so I don't recommend it.

What I do know is that if I swear back I can get in trouble and lose hours for responding (the whole free speech thing doesn't apply to us, sounds fair doesn't it?).

Answer 3

The answer is yes. There are a lot of applicable ordinances that can cause an officer to detain someone for cursing.

"Insolence" is NOT one of them.

The cursing, in combination with other behaviors makes the arrest even more likely, such as mouthing off at a cop INSTEAD of answering the relevan questions, giving false information, mixed in with the cursing, etc.

Simply saying something like, "Damn! I forgot my wallet!" or something similar will not be cause for arrest. The missing wallet may cause a problem, but not the curse word.

If you hear of any stories of someone claiming to have been arrested for no more reason than cussing at an officer, you may not be hearing the entire story.

Like the child that complains that he was grounded "for no reason."

Not likely.

Answer 4

That depends. Was he on duty? or more impotantly was he giving you a ticket for something? If the answer is yes, then yes he can. If he's in his front yard or at a gas station in plain clothes and you have no way of knowing that he is a cop then he might but I don't think it will stick. If he doesn't arrest you, then the next time he's on duty and you go say 5 miles over the limit then he's more likely to stop you.

Answer 5

anyone can be arrested for cussing at someone especially an officer. the term is called "curse and abuse" most officers will not do anything but some do. if you are a citizen cursed by another citizen you can call police and make a citizens arrest and recommend that they be charged with the "Curse and Abuse" statute.

Answer 6

You can be charged with "disorderly conduct", or maybe even crinimal mischief, depending on the city, and if you ever get arrested for something that stupid, while your on your way to the jail, continued your cussing and maybe you can become a star, when the officer gives you a screen test.

Answer 7

Generally, no...but, I imagine this may differ depending on local ordinances.

When I was in the academy, we were taught that our peace cannot be disturbed in the same way as a citizen's peace can.

In other words, if a regular citizen was a victim of a verbal tirade from another citizen, it could be interpreted as "disturbing the peace." However, if a police officer was the only "victim" of the same thing, there could be no arrest.

We were taught that we just had to "take it" unless the offender was committing another arrestable offense.

Answer 8

I'm sure that cussing at them might help them find a reason to arrest you!!

But generally they cant arrest you for speech......but what if you accidently hit them with saliva as you spit out your words., that could be assault?

I guess it would depend on their mood at the time!

Answer 9

I wouldn't cuss at an officer. It's extremely disrespectful. Also, if you have a beef with an officer, cussing at him will not solve anything.

Answer 10

Unless one is extremely ignorant and has a serious problem with authority, why would they? And in the past, as I have witnessed, usually the kid swearing has done something much more serious than mouthing off. He's usually angry he got caught acting up. So they are being charged with something more important than this.