It hurts their feelings. Appeals Court Rules Ohio Cops Didn't Have Cause To Arrest Man Wearing 'Fuck the Police' Shirt.
Not that they won't make your life miserable in the interim.
The Sixth Circuit found Michael Wood had a First Amendment right to cuss out a gaggle of deputies who removed him from a county fair in 2016 after someone called 911 to complain about his shirt. The deputies also are not entitled to qualified immunity from Wood's suit, the Sixth Circuit ruled, because Wood's right to be free from arrest was clearly established by a long line of court opinions protecting obscene language directed at authorities.
That last bit is important. It means he can sue each of the 6 deputies for infringing his First Amendment rights.
Despite clear guidance from courts, police around the country still mete out illegal arrests and tickets to people who hurt their feelings. For example, last year a 19-year-old Utah woman was charged with a hate crime for allegedly stomping on a "Back the Blue" sign in front of a police officer.
Also last year, Tennessee police arrested and charged a man, who has since filed a First Amendment lawsuit, with harassment for posting a doctored photo online of two men urinating on a dead police officer's grave. A judge dismissed the harassment charge.
Make no mistake. An awful lot of cops are petty bullies. Sure there are good cops, but riddle me this: Why is just about every cop in Canada standing in line to drop the boom on Freedom Protests? Why are cops in Germany acting like Nazis from the 1930s asking for people papers? (Today it is about COVID, tomorrow who knows.) Why were cops from all over the US willing to agree that the Sheriffs of parishes in and around New Orleans had the authority to suspend the Constitution - and in particular the 2nd Amendment - after Katrina? (Which they did. Cops from all over went around like the jack-booted thugs they are and confiscated legally owned firearms because the sheriffs said so. Constitution? Liberty? We care not for these things.)
For the most part, cops are in love with their own power, and in love with their self-image as defenders of order. That they are often the instruments of oppression doesn't seem to enter their consciousness.
Click thru for the details on this case, and other cases where cops lost similar lawsuits.
In the days when Police Officers had to graduate from a real recruit school, as opposed to taking a few courses at some Community College and getting ‘certified’, the fact that their police power was derived from consent of the governed was mentioned every day. That phrase ‘from the consent of the governed’ used to also be applied to politicians. Since politicians don’t recognize that authority anymore why would they expect Officers to pay attention to it?
ReplyDeleteIn the days when Police Officers had to graduate from a real recruit school, as opposed to taking a few courses at some Community College and getting ‘certified’, the fact that their police power was derived from consent of the governed was mentioned every day. That phrase ‘from the consent of the governed’ used to also be applied to politicians. Since politicians don’t recognize that authority anymore why would they expect Officers to pay attention to it?
ReplyDelete