IS IT LEGAL? Swearing in public:at Police

TO CONTACT ME: Follow & Message on Instagram:

For FORMAL ADVICE Requests ONLY:
(other emails to this address will not receive a reply)💌 Join this channel to get access to perks:

MY CAMERA GEAR

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:
I'm a Barrister of England and Wales.
Videos for educational guidance only, Always seek advice before taking action. Videos on my channel are not legal advice and should not be taken as such. I accept no liability for any reliance placed upon the content of these videos or references, therein.
#blackbeltbarrister #lawyer #barrister

Description contains affiliate links; I will occasionally earn commissions from qualifying purchases or leads generated. Description may contain affiliate or sponsored links, for which we may receive commissions or payment.

[mick]

I think the police in rainbow costumes causes me distress.

[Rapscallion]

I think bringing intent into it makes sense. Theres a clear difference between swearing at someone to offend them and reflexively swearing because you just dropped something heavy on your foot.

[aimless]

I dropped the F bomb in an expression in front of a Policeman, he got upset, my reply was I am swearing at the situation and not at him.

[GlasPthalocyanine]

A few years back, a policeman said I was swearing at him when I was actually swearing in his presence. We had a little chat about identifying the subject and object in a simple English sentence. That went straight over his head.... I can't see how the Police can enforce any law that they don't understand.

[-ajms-]

If a police officer seriously feels harassment, alarm and distress from swear words they really shouldn't work for the police.

[deang]

Police can charge you doing anything.
Even if you are standing silently still next to protestors, they can charge you with the potential to breach the peace even though you have not actually broken the peace

Figure that one out. Thanks Tony Blair.

[proffessorclueless]

If a police officer is offended by words they are in the wrong job.

[gradderz]

Some pwople swear in conversations its part of their normal vocabulary, especially when slightly agitated, it doesnt mean theyre being aggresive or insulting its just a way of articulating what they want to say because the 'correct words' might not be able to be articulated and swear words are easier to say. So simply "not doing it" isnt as easy as you suggest.

[rjflores]

Go to a football match and see the vitriol on the home fans faces innthe crowd when a referee doesnt award a free kick for a blatant foul. In thise 90 mins calling the ref a blind tw*t should be allowed! If you saw that referee in a resturant a few days later it wouldnt be the best thing or an appropriate thing to do!

[MarcusHolmes]

Social and moral standards have really fallen after people are researching whether they can insult and disrespect another human being. What a world we live in. Smh

[dannyjonze]

i dont believe a policeman should feel alarm or distress at the sound of a swear word. If they do it is a sign that they should resign, not use policing to harass a member of the public. plus they are a public servant, surely that doesnt apply in their case.

[lazrseagull]

I personally don't mind them arresting people for actually trying to offend them but it annoys me when they threaten to arrest people for inoffensive statements like "the traffic's a bit shit today" or even "you guys do a fucking brilliant job!"

If the UK wants to be a country with forbidden words that can be interpreted as insulting, regardless of context, the law should include a list of which words are affected. If someone tells me they fucking love my cooking, it doesn't even cross my mind that they meant any insult by it. Imo, "insulting words" should be replaced with "insulting statements".

[TTM]

Tunnels lot of things cause me to stress, that means when I go out in public I can have the police write somebody up for causing me distress when I hear something I personally find distressing.

[samlikesfruit]

what about a police officer screaming at his pregnant girlfriend 'get f***ing rid' from the street up to her window and then wheelspinning off in rage....and smashing up the house and getting her sister in the corner and screaming in her face with his finger in her face almost touching nose...'get out this is my house now' after you've been tricked off paperwork and then you run away and the very same copper is stationed outside your rental flat whilst he's living in the house you own? Then he gets promoted to sargent? What if he does this to a woman who was tied up raped and impregnated by a 21 year old when she was 14 years old and has been blamed for it all her life and that copper takes advantage of an abusive family situation....what about that?

[stephenhunt]

what if you witness a cop in uniform beating up an OAP who had done nothing wrong ? i.e. you witnessed the
start of the incident. Swearing and using reasonable force to stop the assault would definitely be justified.
I'd like to point out that this is not a hypothetical situation. Citizens need to realise that too often the police are the perpetrators of crime, including violent crime.

[patrickodonnell]

Is it legal for the police to swear at members of the public ?

[darrenbailey]

From previous message BLACKBELTBARRiSTOR you could get arrested under aection 4 and section 5 yet an officer arresting you can call you an insulting word and nothing is done

[barrieshepherd]

Harvey v Director of Public Prosecutions - Appeal granted.

" This case turned on the fact that the Prosecution failed to provide any evidence that the police were offended by a word that, whether we like it or not, is commonplace. They were not used as specific insults to the officers, just as the words themselves.

Because of this the Court could not infer that as “robust” police officers, probably used to that sort of language, that any “harassment, alarm or distress” was caused."

"But perhaps all that has happened here is that the court have recognised that this is a word now part of everyday language for some, not illegal to use, and in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, has refused to accept simply using it should be a crime."

So it seems you can probably use expletives in general language to the police but not if you direct the expletive directly to an officer to cause distress.

[DrTinyToff]

A neighbour threatened to kick my head in, in front of police, I turned to copper and said "are you seriously playing fcking deaf to this?". I got arrested and fined for the FBomb, the ppl threatening me...got nothing.

[TheHookahSmokingCaterpillar]

Given that your subconscious brain has made decisions potentially many seconds in advance of your conscious brain (see the Libet experiment), has already passed those instructions to your body and that self-control mechanisms within the brain may be lowered in a confrontational situation (assuming 'fight' rather than 'flight') I would love to know how one proves "intent."