Can the police arrest or ticket you for being disrespectful?

Question

Say you get pulled over for a traffic violation. You call the cop an a**hole for giving you a ticket. Can they arrest you or ticket you?

Answer 1

They can, and do, way more often than they should, arrest people for walking down the street.

Why in the world would you want to give them any kind of incentive to do even more by calling them something that they won't like, even though it be that you're calling them exactly what they are?

Even if, in their jurisdiction, they DON'T have a statutory code they can use against you, all they have to do is make something up about you, and if it's a case of your word against theirs, they'll win every single time.

It's called being a badge-bearing bully. There are a LOT of them out there. Avoid the pitfalls whenever you can.

And by that, I also mean to avoid bad answers, too:

In complete contradiction to the GDom, there is no such thing as 'failure to cooperate'. That would get laughed right out of court. It's called 'failure to comply with a lawful order.' Nevertheless, there are many badge-bearing bullies who would like you to believe it to be a crime to fail to cooperate.

ZebJ25's concept of "uncommon" is way out of touch with reality. The only place I've been for more than a day at a time where I have FAILED to find at least ONE badge-bearing bully who will do the above or worse, is in Bolivia, and that's probably just because so few people knew how to read tickets that traffic citations would be rare.

It is by no means uncommon.

Then there's this answer right above mine: Chong's THC filled buddy by the gist of the answer. 1)It is NEVER a crime to do ANYTHING until the jury says it was, regardless of what any self-proclaimed badge-bearing bully tries to tell you. 2) badge bearing bullies pull people over all the stinking time for offenses that they know the drivers didn't commit, preying on the very liklihood of the driver not paying enough attention to know for certaint that he/she WASN'T doing it. I have NEVER once been pulled over for a real infraction of the law.. but I've been stopped almost a dozen times.

The first time I was ever pulled over was for 'vandalism of a new road construction site' when in fact, instead of waiting for the imbecil doing the "construction" to make up their minds about where the completely unmarked detour was supposed to be, I had taken my motorcycle completely off the new surface and rode parallel to it in the dirt beside it.

Next was for 'speeding' when the new upwardly-mobile badge-bearer in town found that by diging a post hole for the speed-limit signs half the distance from where it was supposed to be, and moving the sign to his post hole, he could clock many more motorists for doing thirty-plus in what would appear to be a twenty-five.

The third was for an "Improper U Turn" when I hadn't actually made a U-turn at all, but had made a left-hand turn into a gas station and realized that I'd left my money at home, so I didn't come to a full stop in the line for gas, but, wormed my way back out to the street, merged into the nonexistent traffic, and drove back home.

Fourth was when I'd got brand new studded snow tires which threw my speedometer off, and a deputy sherrif clocked me doing fifty-six in a fifty-five, in a state where it is unlawful for a ticket to be issued for any less than a 2% overage. When I reminded him of this, he said "Yeah, I know, but, I was bored, so I figured what the hey."

The next time was when I followed a Yeild sign and pulled onto the new street well behind an idiot cop who thought I had just run the red light that had just become green for him.

Next was when I was droving home after getting off work in the wee hours of the morning and stopped for a red light and watched the lights cycle green for EVERY other lane at that intersection except mine, three whole times, with absoulutely no other traffic at all. So I decided to proceed, and was immediately pulled over to have the motorcycle cop say that while he was running my license he got a radio call for something much more urgent than running a red light, so he was letting me go. Curious, I came back to that intersection from another direction, but parked about half a block before it, and found that same cop straddling his motorcycle right behind the traffic signal control box and changing the lights by hand and cycling past whichever lane happened to be occupied, and pulling them over the moment they decided to drive through the intersection anyway.

Next was when I had bought a new car and was pulled over for allegedly not having insurance, which I did, but for some reason hadn't been updated in the state-wide computer system yet.

Next was when I was ARRESTED for walking down the left-hand side of a road with no sidewalks.

Next was when I was ARRESTED for walking down the left-hand side SIDEWALK.

Next was when I was pulled over for having a missing headlight, when I had just an hour or so before fixed it and knew it to be working just fine for all the fog I'd been driving through. I can't wait to find out what I'll be ticketed or arrestted for next.

But then, that's what I get, because I make it my duty and reponsibility to identify badge-bearing bullies and weed them out of an already too-corrupt system.

Just like someone should have done some thirty years earlier to nip whatever career the below contributor had in the bud.

Calling the cops who pulled me over for all those things above the thing that you'd suggested would in no wise be untrue nor inaccurate, but, it would actually, I'm sure, have made things just that much worse.

Answer 2

Yes, a cop can ticket you for disorderly conduct. There are plenty of other laws that they can use (inciting a riot, verbal assault, etc) that fall into that same category if they really want to push it. Most of those will get overturned if you take it to court, but it's still going to be a big hassle for you.

Not to mention that if the cop really wants to, he can place you under arrest - and resisting is still resisting arrest. Or if he really wants to, he can start looking for you and ticketing you every chance he gets.

Now, the odds are that this cop is just doing his job and you were unlucky enough to be the one he caught. He's probably not doing it because he has a personal vendetta against you, although he may have thought you were acting suspicious or wanted to check to see if you were drunk, had drugs, etc. Your best bet is to take the ticket and not do anything that will make you stick out in his mind. Say 'thank you' and fight it in court because he's DEFINATELY going to show up to the court date if you make a point of calling him an asshole and he's probably going to argue for the full penalty too.

Answer 3

Yes...although its uncommon. Remember that when you are getting a ticket, you are getting it in leiu of arrest, which means that you will have your car towed, it will be impounded, if only for a few hours and you will be back at the precinct house gettting your ticket in cuffs...then of course you will have to find your own way home and to get your car, which of course will add a few hundred to a ticket you could have just gotten on the side of the road in 15 minutes and have been on your way.

Answer 4

Its possible. But the cop isnt giving you a ticket. You earned one from breaking the law. There is a difference.

Answer 5

Not for being disrespectful, but being cops they will probably create another reason., for example; He thought you had a gun, or you resisted arrest, or you were a danger to others around you, Always treat a cop like you would treat a pit bull, be very careful, and get away from him/her as fast as you can without running.

Answer 6

POP.... Capital Charge.

Pissing
Off
Police

In my state, you can be arrested for nearly any violation of the law.... traffic or otherwise...

Answer 7

legally no and surprised at all the BS Sheeple answers on here. But Legally NO! But they can and do make crap up

Answer 8

Yep.

There are always some charges somewhere in law that they can apply, and they know the law and you don't.

By the way, use of fould language can be construed as "verbal assault"

Answer 9

No but I'm sure he will remember you in court. Shut you mouth and pay the fine.

Answer 10

yes, failure to cooperate