Cop called *****, case dismissed

BLOWN8 · May 4, 2010

taken from here Police anger after court throws out swearing charge - Yahoo!7 News

"The New South Wales Police Association says the decision to dismiss a charge against a student who called an officer a "*****" sends the wrong message to the community.

A magistrate in Sydney's Waverley Local court yesterday cleared a 22-year-old man of the charge, saying that the word is commonly used.

But the association's secretary Peter Remfrey says he is disappointed in the decision.

He says while swearing might be common it is not acceptable, especially against a police officer.

"I think its a very different situation for a police officer doing his job to have language directed at him in a very offensive way as opposed to hearing language in the street," he said.

Mr Remfrey says the officer was just doing his duty after the student allegedly jumped a barrier at Bondi Junction Railway Station.

The New South Wales Attorney-General John Hatzistergos has asked for a transcript of the court's decision.

NSW Police will also be forwarding information to the Director of Public Prosecutions, to consider an appeal."

Now i dont know about you but i get called a lot worse than a ***** in my job, the transport industry is a very tough industry indeed
just my opinion but what makes a cops job so special, they are getting paid to do a job just like you and i, if a cop cant get called names on the job then that should go for everyone shouldnt it?
what do you guys thing?

AyiosYiorgos · May 4, 2010

What makes a cops job so special you ask, umm besides trying to protect you and your family, trying to uphold the law so we don't have the animals running wild, having to deal with scumbags day in day out, nothing really...
Seriously if you are able to do as you please infront of cops, it will eventually cause more issues, you give the thugs a bit they will take a lot, can you imagine a cop trying to arrest someone and having some idiot just swearing at them constantly..

BLOWN8 · May 4, 2010

AyiosYiorgos said:
What makes a cops job so special you ask, umm besides trying to protect you and your family, trying to uphold the law so we don't have the animals running wild, having to deal with scumbags day in day out, nothing really...
Seriously if you are able to do as you please infront of cops, it will eventually cause more issues, you give the thugs a bit they will take a lot, can you imagine a cop trying to arrest someone and having some idiot just swearing at them constantly..

but i get paid to do my job and get the occasional abused, whats the difference? i make the roads safer for your families. if they choose that job then live with it i say, we all put up with crap at our jobs, atleast i dont go jumping up and down when someone calls me a name at work. im sure their pays cover a little abuse and then some!

but thats your opinion and thats fine mate thats all i wanted, peoples opinions on this. if you dont agree with me dont have a go at me for it, we will all have different views on this.

AyiosYiorgos · May 4, 2010

Each to there own, we could sit hear and debate all night long but i dont have the time..
But let me say this, one of the problems with our society today is the lack of respect people show to one another, if people need to abuse cops who are doing there best to help you, then so be it, bet those people are also the 1st to call the cops when something goes wrong or they need help, maybe they should tell them to F off as well..

Ersk · May 4, 2010

BLOWN8 said:
but i get paid to do my job and get the occasional abused, whats the difference? i make the roads safer for your families. if they choose that job then live with it i say, we all put up with crap at our jobs, atleast i dont go jumping up and down when someone calls me a name at work. im sure their pays cover a little abuse and then some!

The problem is you shouldn't have to be abused like that when you are doing your job (unless you really are a ***** when you are doing your job then thats the facts). No seriously, you shouldn't and you really shouldn't have to put up with that.

The difference is for police is that they are upholding the law. They make people do what they do not want to do, and by swearing back at the police for doing that is saying they do not respect and understand why the police are doing what they are doing. they are challenging the authority of the police by doing that.

Dunno what happens in that case, but tak for example a cop pulls you over for speeding. They come to your window, youcall them a *****. that is over the line. Number one, they would not have to pull you over if you were not speeding. Number two, by swearing at them you are saying you do not respect the job they are doing (upholding the law) (or the law itself) or why they are doing it. Number three, you are challengin the police and threatening them - if you swear at a cop, god knows what else you will do to them.

You should not have to put up with that sort of thing, and neither should the cops. You may not like who they are or what they have done to you but you can use words apart from swearing. In general, swearing is still rude and discurteous, even if it is quite common.

Ersk

smc2910 · May 4, 2010

i work at Centrelink and we cop it all the time also, if it gets bad enough we just tell people to stop or they can leave and they wont be helped, stops most in their tracks but some people go off the deep end further which creates a bit of excitement.

evilhomer74 · May 4, 2010

If this case is just dismissed and thrown away, it will set an unbelievable precedent, and then were all in big trouble. That turkey magistrate should be shown the door & not be allowed to practice any form of law as long as he lives.

For those who feel they shoudn't have to respect a police officer, think of the world we would live in without them.

Sacha · May 4, 2010

smc2910 said:
i work at Centrelink and we cop it all the time also, if it gets bad enough we just tell people to stop or they can leave and they wont be helped, stops most in their tracks but some people go off the deep end further which creates a bit of excitement.

I recenltly had to go into centrelink a few months ago, Had to claim the baby bonus, first time ive ever been in there. BLOODY slow and had to wait for almost 2 hours, but i saw 3 arguments in those 2 hours!! 1 guy was standing in the waiting room absuing the lady because he didnt think it was ok for centrelink to ask for his ID!!! Was an entertaining wait!!

BLOWN8 · May 4, 2010

look at it like this also guys:
a cop doing his job gets called a *****, offender gets a fine or worse
i get called a ***** while doing my job, what happens, nothing. do i have the right to charge the person for calling me a rude name?
it just doesnt make sense to me, shouldnt it be the same for everyone? and your right Ersk, this sort of thing shouldnt happen at the work place, but sadly it does.

evilhomer74 · May 4, 2010

i get called a ***** while doing my job, what happens, nothing. do i have the right to charge the person for calling me a rude name?

If it affects you so badly, make a citizens arrest

tak35bne · May 4, 2010

evilhomer74 said:
If it affects you so badly, make a citizens arrest

well u couldn't make a citizens arrest for that as calling someone a name is not an indictable offence......I have very definite opinions on this topic, after spending 22 years in military law enforcement and working with civilian police both in australia and overseas. Most every police officer I know feels very strongly about this topic, having said that I, like other current and ex-members of the law enforcement community realise that we deal with people at their best and at there worst, and when they are at their worst emotions take over and people say things they later regret. I used to expect and tolerate a certain amount of verbal abuse but there comes a time when u just say enough.

The current trend of abusing people in authority or civil employees is an indication on just how low our moral compass in pointing. People just don't have any respect for their fellow man or any self discipline.........its a very sad situation indeed.

that's my 2 cents worth on this topic anyway..............

BLOWN8 · May 4, 2010

evilhomer74 said:
If it affects you so badly, make a citizens arrest

good one. it doesnt bother me really, i can take a name or two here and there lol. but would anyone here actually take someone seriously if they tried to make a citizens arrest on you, i know i wouldnt, unless i did something really bad, but if i did i dont think id be running away anyway lol

chaddy42 · May 4, 2010

Actually, the real issue is being missed. Using offensive language towards a non-Police member is more likely receive a guilty verdict, as magistrates have set precedent that Police, by the nature of their job, struggle to prove they find swearing 'offensive'.

Any member of society can pursue an offensive language charge, under the following conditions:

To warrant criminalisation, offensive epithets must:
constitute personally abusive insults
be addressed in a face-to-face manner;
target a specific individual and be descriptive of that individual; and
be addressed to an individual unable to avoid the assaultive messageâ€¦

Source: Offensive conduct and language crimes

The personal issue for me is that someone who disrespects Police enough to use offensive language generally has the same disrespect for the law in general.

---------- Post added 04-05-2010 at 04:30 PM ----------

tak35bne said:
<snip>The current trend of abusing people in authority or civil employees is an indication on just how low our moral compass in pointing. People just don't have any respect for their fellow man or any self discipline.........its a very sad situation indeed.

^^^ what he said!

Cobretti · May 4, 2010

yes it is not that the cop was called an offensive name rather than the person has no respect for the law we all follow.

if they think they can get away with anything then law means nothing.

when I used to go to the mall I saw a lot of cops get abused because they ask kids why are they not at school, or why are they smoking. Well they stopped doing that now because of the disrespect for the law.

i think cops need to be given more power to hit some of these little *****s with their batons, otherwise 10years form now society will be ruled buy unrespectful bogans and kids.

araiee · May 4, 2010

i manage a adult products shop (clubx) and get called the worst possible things all the time! especially if their porn is **** and they want a refund!!!! i also get abused because we are near a bus route and the teenager school kids yell the crudest things to me if i ask them for id and tell them to leave, plus scumbag mothers coming into the shop with their kids to buy a bong (tobacco using apparatus) and me telling them politely that they cant have their kids in here, i get called the worst possible names under the sun!!! i also get people asking me what i like to do sexually, i get customers trying to pick me up, because they think im in an adult industry that im available (its flattering sometimes) and i just have to smile and say "have a lovely day wont you" lol....its not really as bad as what i said...having said that, people need to and should have more respect...

Jaames · May 4, 2010

I said a bad word in front of but not at a cop and had to go to court. Got a $400 fine. But the guy that hit me in the back of the head(The reason i said the word) they let go with not even a fine.

hsv006 · May 4, 2010

I work at perths worst hot spot for violence etc and its rare a day goes by where im not abused/threatened etc.
Its clearly getting worse...many have virtually no respect for our fellow human beings.
I say stuff em...if your stupid enough to mouth off to a police officer then you get what you deserve.
NO BODY gets paid to take abuse...agreed we realize its part an parcel of working with the public but that doesn't justify it as being acceptable..

howzat · May 5, 2010

Definitely setting a precedent! Will be interesting to see what follows...

boofhead · May 5, 2010

hsv006 said:
I work at perths worst hot spot for violence etc and its rare a day goes by where im not abused/threatened etc.
Its clearly getting worse...many have virtually no respect for our fellow human beings.
I say stuff em...if your stupid enough to mouth off to a police officer then you get what you deserve.
NO BODY gets paid to take abuse...agreed we realize its part an parcel of working with the public but that doesn't justify it as being acceptable..

I agree mate, ive worked in big busy pubs as security/manager for years.
Getting abused/threatened and violence is a regular occurrence.It never amazes me how stupid people are,they are given every opportunity by us and sometimes police to just walk away but they choose to mouth of and sometimes worse.It gives me a bit of a laugh to see a moron taken away in the back of a divvy van and sometimes sprayed in the face with capsicum very funny indeed.I have found Police to be very tolerant they have to be.

It is disgraceful to see on days like Australia day/Anzac day People getting off thier face on whatever and behaving appallingly on these two what should be great days. Somthing is up with our young culture or lack of it no respect.In my day you copped a smack if you needed one, i think some of these morons need to be smacked more regularly,would do some of these kids the world of good.

Jets59 · May 5, 2010

chaddy42 said:
Actually, the real issue is being missed. Using offensive language towards a non-Police member is more likely receive a guilty verdict, as magistrates have set precedent that Police, by the nature of their job, struggle to prove they find swearing 'offensive'

Exactly. The double standards set by magistrates are simply amazing. Imagine if this bloke was in court and called the magistrate a P.... I would like to have a bet that the magistrate would not have said, thats okay i should be used to it.

on a similar line, does anyone remember that case a few years ago where a bloke made a series of violent threats towards police and there families. It was dismissed from court for the same reason (police should be used to it),

Yet not two months later in a nearby court an offender who was in court made a violent threat towards the magistrate, he was charged and got 9 months gaol. Go figure. The double standards set are amazing.

Now I guarentee with all the publicity from this case you are going to get idiots everywhere calling police *****s, because they know they will get away with it.

Cop called *****, case dismissed

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