Anyone can have a bad day, the kind that could make even the most mild-mannered person let loose an off-color word or gesture.
It’s OK, we swear. That’s true even if you happen to drop the bomb or flip the bird in front of a police officer.
It might not be the best course of action, but it isn’t illegal. Yet people continue to be cited for exercising their First Amendment rights in such cases, essentially punished for offending police officers’ sensibilities rather than any specific law.
You may be surprised to know the ACLU found about 1,000 cases in Pennsylvania, and has sued the state police and the Pittsburgh Police Department.
“Using profanity toward someone, whether an officer or not, is just not one of those things that you can put someone in jail for,” said Mary Catherine Roper, an ACLU senior staff attorney. “It may not be very smart, but you have a constitutional right to do that,” she says.
The civil liberties group reached settlements with both agencies, which included agreements to make sure officers understand they can’t cite people for profanity, indecent speech or gestures.
The retraining is important because officers typically have wide discretion when it comes to disorderly conduct, which usually will be the charge in a cursing case.
Some officers not only maintain their composure, but also manage to show remarkable restraint, as this classic video of a Maine State Trooper shows.