Is it legal to picket the police in front of the police station?

Question

In our days of Rodney King the days of Andy Giffith seem only but a distant memory. Police now-a-days lack any sense of human decency. I fear the police more than I fear the common criminals. I just received a ticket for parking in front of my house. Now I would haved expected that any police officer with any sence of decency would have walked up 20 feet to my house and politely would have asked me to move my car expecially in the absence of no parking signs or red curb markings. However the police already left two tickets for the same infraction when I did not even know this was against the law. Even horses now-a-days do not get trained with slaps in the face for doing some thing wrong. However as a citizen, the only time I know I've done something wrong is when I get slapped in the face. I would like to legally fight back and picket in front of the police station with a sign that reads "Salinas PD Sucks. Ask me why.". I also want to pass out t-shirts with these words. Is this legal?

Answer 1

By all means call the City to see if you need a permit to picket and then do so. Of course anyone that asks you will tell you that you should have learned from the first citation, but that's obvious to almost everyone. Be sure and spend a lot of time picketing on top of paying the citations, oh and make sure you're legally parked by the police station.

Have a good day.

Answer 2

Maybe the police received a complaint from another citizen or a city employee that you were parking there (not knowing anything about the type of area we are talking about).

You get two parking tickets and suddenly ALL police officers have no "sense of human decency"?

Take the tickets to court and you will soon realize that ignorance of the law is not an excuse.

Answer 3

You must be careful with what you say and how you say things. Granted, freedom of speech, but there are limitations. You can't just walk up to a police officer and just start cussing and swearing. Your posted sign or marking can lead to further action. Remember government buildings, defacing the is a crime and slander is not a positive thing. If you feel that you maybe right, it is easier to address the officer or ask important questions with helps you to further understand the cause. May be it would of been wiser if the police officer choose to mention of removal of your car. Although there wasn't a no parking sign, we shouldn't have to be reminded of what is right. Then you will feel insulted if signs were placed up every 5 ft or so, no illegal carrying of a weapon, driving while intoxication, no breaking into vehicle, no saling of drugs. This are some of the common sense laws. Tickets are a way of lessons learned. You may forget about parking in certain areas, but if you gotten a ticket for it, you would highly remember. A lot of people misinterpret the law and give law enforcers bad names. My saying is, "don't put yourself in a predicament if it could lead to illegal actions."

Answer 4

I can understand your frustration; however, if you received two infractions for the same offense, then the first infraction should have been your wake-up call to let you know you were parked illegally.

If you did the same thing after getting the first ticket, you only have yourself to blame. However, if you want to picket outside your police stattion, you will want to get the proper permit from the city so yu can do it legally.

It will probably cost you more than your ticket though. But if your terrified of the police, do you think protesting them is really a good idea?

Answer 5

You need to check with your city hall and find out if you need a permit first. Some cities require a permit.

Answer 6

Try it - the police will soon let you know...