Why do cops hate free speech?

Question

I mean, is it just because their so called authority doesn't stand up to legitimate questioning?
I have noticed that on Y!A if you ask a question critical of them they hide behind an anonymous snitch report for "community standards", and of course on the street they call for backup and have you arrested if you dare say anything that hurts their feelings. And then beat you up while you are handcuffed, just to "teach you a lesson".

Of course, the ONLY lesson they ever taught me like that was to hate them and all they stand for.

But seriously, since free speech is the law, and they are sworn to uphold the law, why the violent hatred for free speech?
Can a cop or cop-lover answer this without telling me to "shut up" or threatening me in some way? Enquiring minds want to know...

Answer 1

While there is truth in some of the things you say I think that it is too broad. I have recently been harassed by a cop who regularly posts here, and much to my dismay his complaints about me caused me to lose my Yahoo id I have had for nearly seven years. However there are a good number of nice, honest and well meaning cops who post here and several of them have answered this question.
Not all of them have the "teach you a lesson" attitude here but some unfortunately do. Those are the ones who never give a good answer and like to act like smart Alec school kids. I suppose they feel a little helpless here as they are equal with everyone else. But again I stress that many of them are here every day giving good information, trying to explain the police process and just being helpful with advice. Report and complain about the bad ones but don't hold the bad guys actions against the rest.

Answer 2

No cop hates free babbling, I mean speech. You can go stand on a street corner and say almost anything you want to in this [the United States] country. It is such a beautiful thing to do. However, certain things a person can say are grounds for a legitimate arrest such as threatening the President of the US. Also, if what you are blabbing on about is causing or instigating a potentially hazardous situation--such as rabble rousing a crowd to incite a riot--that is also reason for an arrest.
Yes, there are some "bad apples" at any law enforcement agency, but 99.9999999999[keep the 9s going]% of cops simply get an aggressive subject cuffed and stuffed into a vehicle and leave them and, the best insult, simpy ignore them. They do not then proceed to teach a lesson as you put it
So, if you're standing out in front of City Hall spouting off about how messed up your local elected officials are and how their policies are stupid, idiotic or whatever, you're good to go as long as you don't create a disturbance. Heck, get a sign and say "The Mayor is a moron!!!' That is perfectly legal. You may find other civilians who disagree with you, but the police won't arrest you or "teach you a lesson" for simply standing there holding a sign with whatever you want to say on it. Say all you want. It is your right to do that. You can even bring others to hold similar signs, that's called freedom of assembly. Just don't harm anything or anyone when you assemble.
My guess is you, or someone you know, was someplace, got involved in a situation where the police had to respond, you/they were told to disperse and just go home, you/they didn't, you/they started to be aggressive to the officer by doing more than just saying "anything that hurt[s] their feelings" and got arrested. Just a guess though.
Best line I ever heard a cop tell a person after the cuffs were put on:
Cop - Come on let's go, you're under arrest.
Subject - What for?!?!?!
Cop - Being stupid in a no stupid zone.
The subject's friend had been in a bar fight. The person that beat up the subject's friend was in the back of the cruiser under arrest. The subject then proceeds to yell and spit into the window at the guy in the back. The cop tells subject move along and go away. The subject then kicked the window of the cruiser out trying hit the beater. So, yup, the subject was pretty much being stupid in a no stupid zone.

Answer 3

I am a police officer, and I have never once done or seen done the things you accuse me of doing.

Free speech is an important part of life here in the Untied States. But it is not absolute. The courts have ruled that there are limits on free speech (such as language that disturbs the peace of others, threats, etc.) and for those things you can and should be arrested.

If I arrested every person who said something that they thought was clever and hurtful on the street, I would never have time to do anything else at work.

Having said that, Police Officers have a wide amount of discretion in how they do their jobs...Warning? Summons? Arrest? I often have the ability how to resolve a contact on my own. If a person has a bad attitude and wants to run their mouth, there is a point at which that may effect my decision process.

When that happens, I'm not arresting a person because I don't like free speech, I'm making a discretionary arrest for another violation. The person just "talked" me into it, is all that happened.

Hope this clears things up for you.

Answer 4

There are a few things here I am sure that are being left out. First of all lets look at your contact with the police and why. Were you under arrest or stopped for a traffic violation then things progressed from there? If you say the cop walked up to you out of the blue and started harrassing you verbally or beating you up, then I say you are a liar. If say, you were crawling out a window at 2 a.m. with a TV in your hands - then sorry, the Mr Friendly Cop routine is not reserved for you. If you are committing any type of crime then you get to meet the cop in a whole different relationship as the family pulled over for speeding. If while under detention or arrest you proceed to curse the officer or refuse to provide your name, address, etc. then naturally the nice talk will end abruptly.

Just like anyone else in the world your right to free speech ends when someone is offended by it. You cannot really expect to sit there and tell a cop to F*** Off and still be demanded to be treated in a nice respectful manner. You wouldn't do it yourself nor would your parents - or maybe if they did it explains this question.

As far as getting beaten up......I don't condone it but can understand it. If you have not filed a complaint then expect it to continue. I don't know what you do for a living but lets use an easy example, say you work at McDonald's. Say a guy walks in and starts just calling you a dumb burger flipper, uneducated, minimum wage bum. Then starts cursing you like no one's business. Being very disprespectful basically, all you were doing was your job. You'd spit on that burger in a minute right?

Free Speech is not the law, it is an interpreted freedom from the Constitution originally meant to allow people to congregate and protest the government, peacefully. It has evolved into the Howard Stern Show mentality in the USA where everyone thinks anything can be said anytime they decide to say it. This is not the case and honestly, to sit in handcuffs and to bad mouth the only person responsible to get you to jail in one piece isn't the smartest thing to do.

Answer 5

Most cops don't have a problem with free speech.
Sounds like you have some serious issues with the police. I also have noticed that anonymous complainers get a lot of my answers yanked when I answer questions like this.
I would bet you money this answer will be pulled by someone who agrees with what you say though, so it probably won't be here for long.
Cops that are good don't handcuff and beat people. And you don't get arrested for merely saying something that hurts their feelings. There isn't a violent hatred for free speech, that is not even moderately true.
Like I said read this one quick because what someone complained about happens to cops answers a lot. This answer will probably be gone in 2 hours.

Answer 6

If by Free Speech you mean standing on the corner and yelling when officers try to do their job,then yeah..we hate it...thats because thats inciting a riot...if you mean open dialog in a respectable,civilized manner,then no,we stand up for it.....you have rights,yes...but your rights end where the next persons begin...something that most "I have rights" folks like to ignore.....they want it their way and to h*ll with what the next person wants or doesnt want...."I have a right to play my music loud anytime I want"...yes,but I have a right not to have to listen to the crap you call music..see,it works both ways...so what you are calling "free speech" might not really fall under the definition in the law and this is what is causing you trouble every time you open your mouth....cops have hard enough time going into neighborhoods to make arrests or to stop some "man" from beating his woman without having some street corner lawyer critquing his every move at the top of his lungs....(17 yrs on the job..and still going)

Answer 7

Look there is a difference between free-speech and hate-speech,
I THINK that so many people define Police in the way you do, and that
is why they have a problem when they are arrested, you should not
hate the Police, as only people with something to hide or criminals
actually do hate the Police.........................................................................

WHEN they handcuff you and you struggle, you are not being cute, they
have caught you, you are resisting arrest there are laws against resisting
arrest, and as such they have the right to act accordingly, try to be decent
about it. They are doing a job their job. IT is about the maintenance of law and
order, they are merely making an arrest if you break the law, and in doing
so they carry out the laws of the country.....................................................

Free speech does not mean that you have the right to be abusive to them,
it means that you can voice your opinion, but if that opinion has a hint of
crimen injuria in it or you break any other law while having your say, you
can be arrested...............................................................................................

If you hate the Police you are well and truly on the road to crime, and once
you go up that street it becomes a cul de sac, and once you have committed
a crime against the Police which is a serious problem today, there will be
no going back for you.........................................................................................

Now, as for this anonymous snitch report thing, they have a right to try to
get to the bottom of things, Police are in this job because they have questioning
minds, they always need to get to the bottom of things, so they ask questions....

Anonymously or not, the Police are there to do a job, they have a right to arrest
you if you are abusive, as for the snitch report thing, I have yet to see one of our
Police officers hide, if they need answers they come to you directly, you do not
give them the answers.....They then have the right under the law to kick your door
in, no jokes this is serious stuff...................................................................................

The lesson you need to learn is that they work within the frames of specific
laws and statutes as governed in the Police acts of a Country, but they are
there to deal with crime, and if you are being abusive towards them, you
are committing a crime.................................................................................................

If you are guilty of a crime and they arrest you and you fight, handcuffs may not
be all you get, they are there for a reason and even if detained and arrested you
need to respect all that they stand for........................................................................

Get some treatment and therapy for this hate thing, go to rage counselling, do
not let stupidity blind you to the law, if you break the law and do not know you
have broken one you are just as guilty as if you had a law book open in front
of you......................................................................................................................

Police forces worldwide do stand up to legitimate questioning, and most of those
men and women out there are just the same as you and me, but they have extended
rights if you decide to take the law into your own hands with regard to them,
you bet they can arrest you............................................................................................

Answer 8

First off, Yahoo! Answers is a private and international community with its own set of regulations. You don't have free speech here on the level that you would in an actual country.

Secondly, you're generalizing all cops. Most would never do what you're claiming they do. And the cops that do do that either joined the force for the wrong reason, or they're just tired of working so hard to clean up the streets and then seeing the streets worsen despite their most dilligent efforts.

And if you're basing your information on videos posted on YouTube and similar sites... I got news for ya: That's about the most biased form of media you'll ever see. They edit out important details and most often present very weak cases of police "brutality" or "unnecessary use of force".

Answer 9

law enforcement officials can continually pass after someone each and every time they opt for. The question is the legality of doing so. there is no such element as a "heckler's veto", the position the police can intervene even as a persons' speech makes listeners so indignant that violence would take position. yet they many times do, it truly is why there are lawsuits about it. Police continually have the right to intervene even as someone says words that state or advise an drawing close attack: "enable's pass down the line on the on the spot and bash them solid". yet you could say some thing that suggests violence at some indefinite destiny date, like "even as the great excellent revolution of folk's love comes, we will draw close each and every of the ... "

Answer 10

Police do not hate free speech. They might prefer to not have to deal with a person who is abusing the right to free speech though.
All of our freedoms come with a caveat. Responsibility.
If a police officer is doing his job and that job is being interfered with, He has the duty to decide what action to take to accomplish his task. They are not there to answer questions, they are not there to debate. During an arrest is not the best place to exercise free speech. It is not responsible, it wastes time, and reduces the effectiveness of police action.
The cliche' "Know your Rights" applies here. Most Americans know they have free speech, but they do not know the definition of free speech has been altered over the years. Even in its original interpretation, it always stood hand in hand with the individual being responsible in exercising that right.