You can now get a citation for making direct eye contact with a cop

[Janx]

I'm sure Earp family dinners were QUITE civil.













...until the gravy ran out.

"Pass the yellow gravy"

"Are you calling me yella?"

BANG!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

"Pass the yellow gravy"

"Are you calling me yella?"

BANG!

"Did you just shoot your brother?"

"Hell, Ma, he just called me yella!"

BANG!

"Don't curse at the table!"

 

[Ryujin]

A friend, who couldn't tie a knot to save his life, once asked me to tie him a little noose so that he could hang it from his rear view mirror. One day when we were driving to work he grabbed it and shook it at a cop, who was going the other way.

About an hour and a half later we were back on our way to work, after said cop had written him up for about a half dozen equipment violations (real or imagined). Fortunately we avoided the cavity search.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

A longtime buddy told me of a friend of his-in a different crowd- who got pulled over.

When the driver rolled down his window, the officer asked him the usual question, "Do you know why I pulled you over?"

He looked around the interior of his car (there were no passengers), and then said, "I don't see any donuts in the car, sir; you tell me."

He spent the night in jail.

 

[Umbran]

About an hour and a half later we were back on our way to work, after said cop had written him up for about a half dozen equipment violations (real or imagined). Fortunately we avoided the cavity search.

He spent the night in jail.

I think that we have far too many cases where cops get in people's faces for no good reason. Folks should not get pulled over for being black, and such.

However, if you *actively and directly* seek to cheese off the cops, I have a hard time having a lot of sympathy for you.

 

[Kramodlog]

Abuse of power is abuse of power. Ticking off a cop, volontarely or not, isn't a reason to end up in jail or get tickets. Tolerating it only leads to cops continuing to abuse their powers.

 

[tomBitonti]

I think that we have far too many cases where cops get in people's faces for no good reason. Folks should not get pulled over for being black, and such.

However, if you *actively and directly* seek to cheese off the cops, I have a hard time having a lot of sympathy for you.

I agree, but only partly.

Being rude will probably have consequences, but, you should still only be cited, detained, or arrested for having broken the law.

I'm presuming that the answer given was taken as failing to answer the officer, which seems to be interference.

Ah:

http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69801

Sec. 53a-167a. Interfering with an officer: Class A misdemeanor. (a) A person is guilty of interfering with an officer when such person obstructs, resists, hinders or endangers any peace officer, special policeman appointed under section 29-18b or firefighter in the performance of such peace officer's, special policeman's or firefighter's duties.

(b) Interfering with an officer is a class A misdemeanor.

(1971, P.A. 871, S. 50; P.A. 76-225; P.A. 01-84, S. 11, 26; P.A. 05-180, S. 4.)

I have no idea what jurisdiction that is from.

Thx!

TomB

 

[Morrus]

Yeah. A night in jail for making fun of a police officer? I find that incredibly scary on a conceptual level. I'd expect that sort of thing in Russia, not in Western countries.

 

[Lhorgrim]

I doubt that the arrest citation listed "smart ass" as the reason somebody was taken to jail. Officers have to answer to prosecutors and judges eventually. I took quite a bit of verbal abuse from people, but in my area you still have to have a chargeable offense to lodge someone in the jail. Officers should have a thick skin. That being said, if you were a jerk to me and also had a $50 warrant for some traffic violation you forgot to pay a couple years ago, I would most certainly serve it. If you weren't a jerk I would advise you of the warrant and tell you to get it cleared up at the courthouse. If you had a warrant for something more serious I had no choice but to take you in. But, an officer that screwed over people just for being jerks wouldn't last very long. Defense attorneys would eat a guy like that for breakfast. It also raises red flags for other disciplinary issues like excessive force.

 

[Umbran]

Abuse of power is abuse of power. Ticking off a cop, volontarely or not, isn't a reason to end up in jail or get tickets. Tolerating it only leads to cops continuing to abuse their powers.

I have little sympathy for willful thoughtlessness or stupidity.

Cops are humans. They can only be expected to have the patience and restraint of well-trained humans, at best. Our requiring them to be super-human is kind of like requiring that our wood-frame buildings support loads like steel-framed buildings. The structure *will* fail if we do that, and it won't be the building's fault.

If you are inciting the cop for no good purpose, then you are making the world worse for those of us who may need to stand up to a cop for a real purpose. I may need to tell a cop to stick it at a moment that matters, and have him or her be patient enough to take it. If you are choosing to erode the cop's patience for no particular good end, then you're effectively hurting me and my community. If you get a ticket as a result, I'm okay with that.