Is "disrespecting an officer" a crime?

MyDoorsAreOpen

MyDoorsAreOpen

Bluelight Crew
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Once in a blue moon I've seen people charged with "disrespecting an officer" in movies, stories, and cartoons. It's almost always coupled with some larger charge, and seems to be The System's final fuckyou to a criminal who proved especially uncooperative.

Is this truly a crime in the United States and countries with similar / US-modeled police and justice systems? If it is, is it possible to be charged, tried, and punished by the courts for this alone, without other accompanying charges? Does anyone have any idea what level of crime this is, and what sort of penalties it can carry?

Seems to me if this is an actual criminal charge the cops can dole out on its own, it provides a loophole for LEOs big enough to sail a cruise ship through. "Disrespect" is a very subjective sensation, and I bet this word has no official legal definition (or an incredibly lengthy and convoluted one) on the books.

I guess I should feel lucky I live in a country that at least TRIES not to look like a police state :\
 
You can be as rude as you want, but that won't get you anywhere.

If you don't do as instructed however, you can be in defiance of a direct order of a police officer.
 
NeverAgain123, I am aware that if the officer draws his gun and gives orders such as "drop your weapon", "put your hands on your head", or even just "freeze", he is perfectly in the right to shoot you dead if you don't comply immediately.

But let's say a cop isn't chasing me down as the suspect in a crime that's just been committed, I'm not operating a motor vehicle when he encounters me, and there is no warrent out with my name on it. Let's suppose I'm minding my own business and the cop just doesn't like something about my appearance or aura, and so decides to single me out for a bit of grilling, hoping he might turn something up on me. Am I really obligated to follow any direct order he gives me?

Albert, 'disorderly' also strikes me as a really nebulous term. It begs the question 'What is order, and who has the right to define it?' I could think of some ways to be incredibly rude without being (by my sense of the word) disorderly at all. For example, what if instead of answering a question the officer asked me, I handed him the most offensive comeback I could think of and made him feel about 2 inches tall, in a completely calm and non-threatening tone of voice? Could he still charge me with 'disorderly conduct' and have a case against me? (Let's assume my insult, although terribly cutting, contained no language unfit to say on TV or anything that had legal precedents for 'hate crime' status.)
 
Cops can only shoot you if you raise a weapon.

Even if you have an AK-47 by your side, he is not allowed to shoot you unless you raise it.
 
MyDoorsAreOpen said:
NeverAgain123, I am aware that if the officer draws his gun and gives orders such as "drop your weapon", "put your hands on your head", or even just "freeze", he is perfectly in the right to shoot you dead if you don't comply immediately.

But let's say a cop isn't chasing me down as the suspect in a crime that's just been committed, I'm not operating a motor vehicle when he encounters me, and there is no warrent out with my name on it. Let's suppose I'm minding my own business and the cop just doesn't like something about my appearance or aura, and so decides to single me out for a bit of grilling, hoping he might turn something up on me. Am I really obligated to follow any direct order he gives me?

Albert, 'disorderly' also strikes me as a really nebulous term. It begs the question 'What is order, and who has the right to define it?' I could think of some ways to be incredibly rude without being (by my sense of the word) disorderly at all. For example, what if instead of answering a question the officer asked me, I handed him the most offensive comeback I could think of and made him feel about 2 inches tall, in a completely calm and non-threatening tone of voice? Could he still charge me with 'disorderly conduct' and have a case against me? (Let's assume my insult, although terribly cutting, contained no language unfit to say on TV or anything that had legal precedents for 'hate crime' status.)
Click to expand...

We all know that it should be acceptable to say anything we want to a cop. But what we should be able to do and what we can get away with are different. Cops can arrest you for disorderly conduct and make it stick by lying and really there is not much you can do about it. Thankfully it is only a misdemeanor.
 
Yeah I found out the hard way how this works. Ironically, I started this thread BEFORE my arrest. I better ask my parents and grandma if I have a bit of ESP in my genes =D Either that or somebody up there must've seen my fate coming, and given me the urge to ask this question before it was more than academic.

I ended up following your adivce Albert, and being very polite, courteous, cooperative, even FRIENDLY with the officers. Hell, they know full well (at least the ones I was lucky enough to encounter) that pot smokers who don't break other laws are harming no one -- they were just doing their job. At least that's the vibe I picked up from them.

Had I been in the least way rude or difficult, they could have easily charged me with intent to distribute (individual 8ths in a glass jar?! hmm...), trafficking by motor vehicle, and driving under the influence of drugs. They could have also combed carefully through my personal belongings and found 5 tabs of DOB in my wallet. That's 4 felony charges and no chance of a driver's license for 2 years, if I was even out of prison by then.

Hell, I'll take a year of doob-free probation and a "charges pending" leading to "charges dismissed" item on my record any day! And it's all thanks to resisting the urge to disrespect an officer.
 
TheodoreRoosevelt said:
Cops can only shoot you if you raise a weapon.

Even if you have an AK-47 by your side, he is not allowed to shoot you unless you raise it.
Click to expand...

Not true. The U.S. has a "fleeing felon law" . Lethal force can be used against the fleeing suspect of a felony crime if the officer (or victims/bystanders) has probable cause to believe that the suspect will use violence against the officer or civilians. In fact in some instances it's a crime to NOT use force against a felon in flight.

See Tenn. v. Garner
 
Sorry, I should've figured that - of course - there would be exceptions.

Pretty crazy case, the law Tennessee used to have is nuts! Imagine - an officer using "the officer may use all the necessary means to effect the arrest" of, say, a wreckless driving ticket (racing, to be specific).
 
Where I live disrespecting an officer is a crime. It's called "pulling out a weapon" and the officer shoots you in "self defense." :(
 
TheodoreRoosevelt said:
Pretty crazy case, the law Tennessee used to have is nuts! Imagine - an officer using "the officer may use all the necessary means to effect the arrest" of, say, a wreckless driving ticket (racing, to be specific).
Click to expand...

For sure, or handlin H, crank/coke, acid, ice or E. Assaultin a smart mouth minor or fucking a 17 year old. These are all theorhetical crimes that could = police death sentence.
 
TheodoreRoosevelt said:
Cops can only shoot you if you raise a weapon.

Even if you have an AK-47 by your side, he is not allowed to shoot you unless you raise it.
Click to expand...
Chances are, if you didn't have a weapon by you before he shot you, you will afterwards.

/cynicism
 
When it comes to arrest as hard as it might be to not get pissed off, You should always cooperate and remain calm. Yeah theres a lot of prick cops out there but basically they're just doing there job(not a job we respect when we're on the receiving end). Im not saying confess everything but just be pleasant and 9 times out of 10 the cop will respect you for it. They'r sick of dealing with scumbags so if you can see past the fucked up situation your in and just chat with them the same way you would with any other stranger they should be cool with you.
I was done for drink driving and when I was in the station everything was relaxed and cool. We even had a bit of laugh. I admitted I was a fool for drink driving and the cops were sound. They genuinely fely shitty that they had to do me for the offence(if I'd been a prick they'd have taken joy out of doing me). When it goes to court I know they'll tell the judge it was an unfortunate fuck up. Better that than them saying I was an uncooperating abusive cunt. In my country most of them are ok if you can see past their badge(granted theres a few power mad ego fucks). It comes down to if your a prick to them-they'r gonna be twice as big a prick to you.
Like the saying says-keep your friends close and your enemies even closer!!
 
When I was like 15 I used to steal cars and stuff and go hang out with girls at night until I almost got caught by the police. Anyway, I convinced one of the girl's I was seeing to take her Dad's car and come over. She called me halfway here and said there was a cop following her so I told her to hang up the phone and just drive normally. She got to my house and we hung out for a couple hours then she was about to leave.

I go outside and notice she parked her car almost sideways in the street and was like 5 feet away from the curb. She gets in the car and the battery is dead for some reason, looking back I bet she left a light on or something.

So, I go into the garage and I'm getting jumper cables and trying to think of what car I'm gonna use to give her a jump and all the sudden the police cruise up.

Long story short, she tells the cop the reason she is parked so badly is because her battery died while she was driving (ugh.. stupid bitch) and the cop laughs about this and asks her for her license which she doesn't have. Then the cop says he is gonna call her Dad and have him come pick her up.

The cop looks at me and says, "Are you gonna stay here and face up to her father?" and I tell him, "Yes, I'll take responsibility". He looks at me kind of strange and tells the girl to get into his car.

Then he says, "You look kind of young son, I think you need to go home." and I say, "You just asked me if I'm gonna stay and take responsibility and now you want me to go home? I'm staying, sorry" then he says, "You're underage and out past curfew.. I could arrest you right now if you don't go home".

At this point I just started yelling at this cop. Calling him a fucking pig and a little bitch and all this stuff. He got REALLY upset and started yelling at me that if I didn't go home right now he would arrest me for being out past curfew. This continued for a couple minutes (looking back I don't know how I was acting like this) but I just kept calling this cop a bitch and all this stuff and he kept yelling at me. Eventually I think I called him a pussy and told him I was gonna leave but I'm not going home and I walked away.

He didn't do anything about any of this although I heard later that while he was waiting for the girl's father to arrive he gave her this long speech about not hanging out with guys like me, haha.

So, anyway.. I'm not sure IF it's possible that he could have busted me but I at least on this occasion he didn't and I think if he could he would have.
 
Once I lied to a cops face. I said that I hadn't been drinking. My friend immediately shot his head around and said "what the fuck are you doing man." The cop laughed, came back with a breathalyzer and busted me. He said, "Merry Christmas, now get out of the fucking car."

So now I always treat them with respect, it just makes things easier.
 
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