I want to preface this blog by making it clear that this post is not intended to diminish the police force or any police officers.
The purpose of this blog is to answer a legal question: Is it legal to curse at the cops?
Short Answer:
The short answer is… it depends. Basically, you’re not allowed to utter “fighting words,” (which are unprotected by the first amendment) at an officer who is performing his duties (or to anyone in general).
The good news is that the law holds cops to a higher standard when dealing with the public, so a phrase or expression that might be considered “fighting words” to an average civilian (e.g. “I F***ed your wife), wouldn’t be considered fighting words to a cop…
But the outcome of criminal liability will solely and always depend on the circumstances of the incident.
So, the answer isn’t clearly “yes” or “no.”
It is more like a scale…
On the riskier end of the scale… if you’re using particularly vile curse words while the cop is performing his duties (i.e. calling the cop a pedophile and child molester while he’s directing children and their parents across the street)… those facts and circumstances might get you a breach of peace charge or an interfering with an officer charge because 1) it’s pretty vile language 2) the cop is performing his duties 3) you’re saying it in front of children which would naturally cause a breach of the peace if kids and their parents hear that the cop directing traffic is a pedophile.
On the safer end of the scale, if you approach a police officer and very politely whisper a nicer curse word like “hey, sorry to bother you but you are an ass” and walk away… you probably won’t get arrested. Or if you are arrested, your charges may end up getting dropped.
The bottom line is that you probably could get away with it if all you do is curse at a cop, in passing, while he isn’t doing something important, and only he hears it… and you don’t cause a scene.
The more of a show you make of it the more likely you’ll be charged.
But… why risk it?
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Legal Analysis
The first amendment protects your right to say what you want.
However, not all speech is protected.
Unprotected speech is speech that has been recognized by courts as being so seriously disruptive and without any justifiable value related to the free expression of ideas that it’s prohibited.
Here are some categories of unprotected speech:
WHAT CAN I BE CHARGED WITH?
There are two statutes you may be charged under if the cop arrests you for cursing at him.
One is Sec. 53a-167a. Interfering with an officer
And two is Sec. 53a-181. Breach of the peace
Breach of peace
This statute criminalizes “fighting” words or “obscene” words.
Fighting words have been described by the Supreme Court (of the USA) as “those which by their very utterance. . . tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.” Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, supra, 572.
The Connecticut Supreme Court has clarified that fighting words are “Words that provoke a breach of peace or imminent reachion, inherently inflammatory words.” State v. Williams
Obscene words are words that are so typically so sexually gross that they have no serious value to society.
Again, this is a scale and there is no lexicon that places every word into a given category. It’s a scale based on the circumstances.
Cops are held to a higher standard to deal with assholes
Where the only person able to hear allegedly abusive language is a police officer, a conviction for breach of the peace based on such language can be supported only for “extremely offensive behavior supporting an inference that the actor wished to provoke the policeman to violence.”
So, theoretically you’re probably more likely to get away with uttering offensive language towards a cop than you are towards a regular Joe Schmo.
Interfering with an officer
This is the other statute you’d likely get charged with if you pushed the boundaries of free speech.
The elements are: Intentionally, obstructing (or hindering, etc), a cop in the cops duties.
So it has to be intentional that’s number one.
Secondly it has to be while the cop is on duty. The phrase “duty”, means that the cop must have been acting within the scope of what he is employed to do. The test is whether the police officer is acting within that compass or is engaging in a personal frolic of his own.. So… if he’s walking the beat in uniform, directing traffic, or sitting in his car he’s probably performing his duties.
Third, you have to obstruct or hinder his duties.
But, the statute only applies to “fighting words” just like the breach of peace statute.
So you’d have to say something that would rise to the level of fighting words… i.e. really bad stuff that will reasonably provoke a reaction.
The Connecticut Supreme Court expressly limited its application to intentional interference consisting of either physical conduct or fighting words that inflicted injury or tended to incite an immediate breach of peace, saying: “To avoid the risk of constitutional infirmity, we construe § 53a–167a to proscribe only physical conduct and fighting words that “ ‘ “by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.”State v. Williams
Whats the Takeaway?
Don’t curse at cops.
But..
…the first amendment does protect your right to curse at a cop if you want to…
However…
Tread lightly.
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