Discussion » Questions » Legal » Do you think police officers should give people tickets for excessive swearing?
Thebigd

Do you think police officers should give people tickets for excessive swearing?

I have heard some people who use The F word or some other bad word in every sentence. They don't even care children are present. Perhaps if they had to pay a fine they might learn to watch their language. 

Posted - February 26, 2017
Tag : Excessive swearing

Responses


  • 7776
    That whole thing is just a scam to increase revenue. I mean bad language never killed anyone.
      February 26, 2017 9:27 AM MST
    3

  • I don't really have that strong an opinion on this one.. I grew up thinking it was wrong to swear so I rarely do.  But subsequent generations, sometimes from older generations, learn that it's more and more acceptable...  and now most people do it....  I try to tell my daughter off for it... but the thing is.. all her peers do it... so where do you start?
      February 26, 2017 9:29 AM MST
    3

  • They probably do something like that in Singapore. Over there you can be caned for spitting on the sidewalk.

    It's rare that I come across people swearing in public egregiously. I can see why someone might want some action taken against someone doing that, but realistically I don't think it's necessary. 
      February 26, 2017 10:06 AM MST
    3

  • 44232
    If you call a cop an a**hole or a mofo you might get more than a ticket.
      February 26, 2017 10:10 AM MST
    2

  • 6126
    If we started that, what would happen to our first Amendment rights? Policing people over their speech in public is not something I can get behind. Sorry, but we can't have it both ways.  It's hypocritical.  They're just words.  We are the ones responsible for placing a stigma on them.
      February 26, 2017 10:29 AM MST
    2

  • 2217
    As far as swearing at police is concerned, they should be more thickskinned than that.

    Swearing in public can constitute a breach of the peace, if anyone is upset.

    Not sure who would give a ticket to the police though.  
      February 26, 2017 10:30 AM MST
    2

  • 17404
    Oh dear God, no!  What a ridiculous idea!
      February 26, 2017 10:37 AM MST
    2

  • The police have enough to do. More than enough. They have laws to enforce, the abridgement of Free Speech is not currently law. 
    To even begin a process to accomplish what you describe is a slippery slope. Where does it end? Tyranny. 
      February 26, 2017 10:51 AM MST
    4

  • 22891
    maybe but they couldve done worse
      February 26, 2017 4:30 PM MST
    0

  • Actually I thought it was against the law to use offensive language in public.  I was with my son's boy scout troop touring the local police station where one of the female officers was obviously having a fierce argument with her husband/boyfriend on the phone and finally she slammed the phone down and started yelling for the captain she said "that's it he said F...... on the phone, tell the captain".  So I gathered from that it was definitely something that could get a person into trouble.
      February 26, 2017 10:39 PM MST
    0

  • 3191
    There was a man here convicted in 1999 of breaking an 1897 law about swearing, it was overturned in 2002 on appeal.  

    ""This decision reaffirms the longstanding principle of the rights of free speech," said Michael J. Steinberg, Legal Director of the ACLU of Michigan. "As the court today recognized, the government cannot act as speech police and prosecute a citizen just because someone is offended."" Boomer was convicted in August, 1998 for yelling a stream of profanities in earshot of a woman and her two children after he fell out of his canoe on the Rifle River. The 1897 law that he allegedly violated prohibited using indecent, immoral, vulgar or insulting language in the presence or hearing of women or children. In today's ruling, Justice William B. Murphy, writing for the Court said, ""Allowing a prosecution where one utters 'insulting' language could possibly subject a vast percentage of the populace to a misdemeanor conviction."" He further added, ""?we find it unquestionable that [the law], as drafted, reaches constitutionally protected speech, and it operates to inhibit the exercise of First Amendment rights.""
      February 26, 2017 11:56 PM MST
    2

  • 6126
    Every state has their own laws regarding it.  Usually a person has to do more than simply cursing during a conversation in public.  At a minimum it has to be proven they were a public nuisance.  Bozette's post is a great example of why charges of swearing in public would be thrown out.  I suspect with your police incident, there was a lot more going on than his using one curse word.  
      February 27, 2017 4:20 AM MST
    1

  • 3191
    Nope.
      February 26, 2017 11:58 PM MST
    1

  • No..  Not just for swearing alone.  
      February 27, 2017 4:30 AM MST
    0