General Question

Qingu's avatar

Can you walk up to a police officer in Canada and say "f--- the police!" without getting arrested?

Asked by Qingu (21185points) January 19th, 2010

Do Canada’s free speech laws protect such speech, as it apparently does in America? (f—- being “fuck”)

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

22 Answers

gggritso's avatar

I have a friend who’s a cop, I’ll go ask him. He doesn’t check Facebook often, so he might take a while to reply though.

jaytkay's avatar

I wouldn’t say that to anybody. Why be an a@@hole?

SeventhSense's avatar

I don’t know about Canada but try that in NY and you might regret it unless you’re in a big crowd and even then you might not find support. We love our police. Most cops I know won’t tolerate anything in uniform that they won’t accept out of it.

faye's avatar

You could be charged with swearing in public. It’s probably called creating a disturbance.

Trillian's avatar

I’m trying to imagine why you would want to.

eponymoushipster's avatar

Only if douchebaggery is a crime.

chyna's avatar

Why would you?

Trillian's avatar

@eponymoushipster Is douchebaggery in the same category as flummery and flimflammery?~

ekans's avatar

I can’t see why anybody would arrest you for insulting a popular 1970s and 80s English rock band, but, I guess if the cop really likes them then you might be a bit offensive.

life_after_2012's avatar

listen, don’t mess with the police like that, theres a video on break.com that shows a man doing that same shit to a cop in america and the cop went ape shit and beat the hell out of the poor guy, he did it as a joke and they wanted to catch the cop’s reaction on tape, but i wouldn’t think you’d get arrested but im almost certain your would get beat up and there would be nothing you could do about it, if you thnk other wise, then i feel sorry for you.

Qingu's avatar

I would just like to say that I have no plans of ever doing this. Nor do I understand why such a hypothetical would inform the basis of whether or not to emigrate to a country. Some people, on the other hand….

lilikoi's avatar

@life_after_2012 Wow. That cop should be jailed.

We live in such a police state these days. Cops think that because they have tasers they can play God.

Darwin's avatar

Unless you have had negative interactions with the police in the past, I can’t imagine why you might want to do that. OTOH, if you have had such interactions, maybe the cop will arrest you on that outstanding warrant.

Anon_Jihad's avatar

In the USA you cannot be arrested for use of foul language unless your usage is connectible to a real offense, like disturbing the peace by doing Tourettes Guy impersonations in a library. I do not know if you have similar laws there or not.

Dr_Lawrence's avatar

In Canada, you may not be arrested, but abusing police is not acceptable behaviour here.

You might be brought in for questioning, and might have to submit to a psychiatric evaluation to make sure you are no danger to yourself or others. As a foreigner you might be deported for creating a disturbance. Don’t f u c k with our police.

Zen_Again's avatar

Verbal abuse is abuse, period.

When verbally abusing a person in uniform, it is equivalent to assault – as the officer doesn’t know what your intentions are, and may lead to.

You will be arrested and questioned, and probably given a psychiatric evaluation to see what the f@ck you are on.

And, as @Dr_Lawrence said – don’t even bother trying it.

downtide's avatar

I don’t know about Canada but in the UK you’d be arrested for causing a disturbance of the peace.

Civic_Cat's avatar

I heard it from a lawyer on TV that if you aren’t committing any crime, it is your constitutional right to tell a police officer literally to “fuck off.”

faye's avatar

A neighbor called the cops on my son because he was using the f word as he was trying to back a uhaul truck up over my lawn. The cops came and told my son it was illegal in Canada to swear in public and even in my yard where children might hear. So I think directly swearing at a cop would be an offence. And being that stupid should be an offence.

Civic_Cat's avatar

@faye
I believe it was this guy who said it

This might also heIp:
It Legal to Swear at Public Officials?

What province are you from? Might be a difference there. (I’m in Ontario.)

GuiltyOne's avatar

In Canada you have the right to freedom of expression….. I personally on a daily basis have interactions with the police and I have no qualms telling said police to fuck off, go fuck themselves and so on….. I am very well known in my city for my absolute hatred, disgust and absolute disrespect (the reason for that is the EPS shot and killed both my brothers in a 10 month period, 1 I admit was justified the other was cold blooded murder) aimed towards anyone in uniform and am very open and verbal about it….. So yes if you want to tell them to F Off go right ahead….. And if they try to stop you to question you about your statements slung towards them….. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO STOP AND TALK TO THEM NOR DO YOU HAVE TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THEY HAVE FOR YOU….. JUST TELL THEM ONE THING AND ONE THING ONLY “I HAVE THE RIGHT TO FREELY EXPRESS MYSELF VERBALLY OR OTHERWISE AND IF YOU CONTINUE TO HARASS ME LEGAL ACTION WILL FOLLOW, HAVE A NICE DAY AND FUCK OFF”.... Well that’s what I say anyways and they tend to stop in their tracks and let me be…..

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