Soon to be - Felony if You Annoy the Police in NY

[Abraham]

It would be interesting to know how many/percentage of the population of folks are bailing out of NY/NJ etal due to the totalitarian like politics to more overall conservative states like Texas. (Yeah, yeah, I know about Austin, but once away there into rural Texas is mostly conservative)

I may be wrong, but I think there's a beginning exodus from California, though I don't know how what percentage that amounts to or how much impact such will or is having...

[VMI77]

They say that best course of action with a bad law is to vigorously enforce it. I say "go for it."

If you peel back the onion in places like NYC and Chicago, a significant part of problem seems to be that those responsible for felonies don't get prosecuted for them. The jails are already full and often overcrowded so the courts allow new offenders to plea bargain down to probation and they are put back onto the street.

I think the suspects who would violate the "annoy the police" parameters like spitting on them will be part of the already burgeoning group without a basic respect for the rule of law. Any kind of mass enforcement is going to further crowd the jails and further the public outcry against the PD and the politicians who are abusing it.

Am I worried that this law will increase police abuse? Not in the least. Cuomo, Bloomberg and their minions already have taken government overreach through the PD to unforgivable levels. This law isn't going to make that worse than it already is.

The good people of NY need to suffer under the politicians that they continue to elect as much as possible. It is unfortunate that a minority of New Yorkers feel more like Texans do and they will have to suffer, too. The more that this kind of stuff goes on, the quicker that the Cuomo regime will fall of its own weight just like the government of Detroit did. It is the same substance, just in different degrees of corruption.

Like gun control laws, this law is not targeting those without respect for the law --quite the opposite. The main target of this law is going to be people who want the police to obey the law, and either question them when they break it, or record them doing it on video. Taking video of the police in action will, of course, annoy those officers who aren't following the law, and those are the people this law is targeting.

[The Annoyed Man]

It would be interesting to know how many/percentage of the population of folks are bailing out of NY/NJ etal due to the totalitarian like politics to more overall conservative states like Texas. (Yeah, yeah, I know about Austin, but once away there into rural Texas is mostly conservative)

I may be wrong, but I think there's a beginning exodus from California, though I don't know how what percentage that amounts to or how much impact such will or is having...

You're not wrong about California. In 2006, the year I emigrated to Texas, the Goobinator bragged that California had gained 400,000 new residents in 2005.......but he failed to mention that the state had lost 550,000 previous residents, for a net loss to the state's population of 150,000 people. Most of those who left did so because they were following their jobs when their employers left....which is what happened to me. A large part of the 400,000 who moved to California did so because they either wanted free stuff, they were illegally in the United States, or both. When I was there in the first week of this past May, it felt like a foreign nation, and a large part of the former energy and optimism of the state was absent. California could no more give birth to a Ronald Reagan today that I could lay an egg.

A colleague of mine who is self-employed in IT moved here from MA. He told me he was relieved to get here "before they close the border." His business which was struggling there because of the high overhead had absolutely blossomed here and he is doing really REALLY well....even to the point of still traveling back and forth between TX, MA, and RI to service his east coast accounts while still growing his TX business in geometric progression.

The commie states are on life-support. They just don't know it yet. They're like the chicken with it's head lopped off—lots of running around, but not much intelligent direction.

[texanjoker]

Harassment of a public servant in tx is a felony 3.

Example would be spitting on a police officer.

Spitting can carry many a nasty germs so that I can understand being a crime, but not a felony unless maybe disease is present. How do they define harassment?

Go have some suspect spit in your face and then come back and post about your experience. It is one of the most disgusting things I have had to deal with, on more then one occasion. It requires an ER visit, medications, follow up HIV testing, ect.

[2firfun50]

TAM wrote "The commie states are on life-support. They just don't know it yet. They're like the chicken with it's head lopped off—lots of running around, but not much intelligent direction."

We should have already closed the border to corporate heads/management types from the east coast/Kalifornia. They are a cross between fire ants and termites.

[JJVP]

Harassment of a public servant in tx is a felony 3.

Example would be spitting on a police officer.

Spitting can carry many a nasty germs so that I can understand being a crime, but not a felony unless maybe disease is present. How do they define harassment?

Sec. 22.11. HARASSMENT BY PERSONS IN CERTAIN CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES; HARASSMENT OF PUBLIC SERVANT. (a) A person commits an offense if, with the intent to assault, harass, or alarm, the person:
(1) while imprisoned or confined in a correctional or detention facility, causes another person to contact the blood, seminal fluid, vaginal fluid, saliva, urine, or feces of the actor, any other person, or an animal; or
(2) causes another person the actor knows to be a public servant to contact the blood, seminal fluid, vaginal fluid, saliva, urine, or feces of the actor, any other person, or an animal while the public servant is lawfully discharging an official duty or in retaliation or on account of an exercise of the public servant's official power or performance of an official duty.
(b) An offense under this section is a felony of the third degree.

http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/D ... /PE.22.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Dave2]

Harassment of a public servant in tx is a felony 3.

Example would be spitting on a police officer.

Is annoying them a felony?

[RX8er]

We have gotten sidetracked with spitting on a LEO. What if I am just sitting there screaming to annoy a LEO? Can I now be charged with a felony?

I had a friend who drove about 1 mile after being lite up so he could exit off of the highway (Hwy 78). The cop walked up and the very first thing he said to him was "Are you really trying to annoy me by waiting so long to pull over?" My friends response was well, hi officer, if that's you attitude, well then YES I WAS. I was really trying to get off the 65 MPH highway as it is safer for all. I've responded to way too many accidents on the side of this highway. I was a passenger in the car.

So, in this case, my friend could have been charged with a felony for annoying a cop?

BTW, he did not get a ticket. He's a firefighter in the city (Wylie) that he was pulled over in. But he did happen to talk with the duty sergeant of the day and let him know about attitude of the officer.

[gthaustex]

Seems like the way it is worded, it is far too vague and ripe for abuse....

[TrueFlog]

We have gotten sidetracked with spitting on a LEO. What if I am just sitting there screaming to annoy a LEO? Can I now be charged with a felony?

Agreed. Spitting in a LEO's face is quite different from spitting on his shoes is quite different from humming an obnoxious song.

I find the Salvation Army bell ringers to be anonying. Should that be a felony?
I get annoyed when tap their knuckles or click their pens. Is that a felony offense?
Suppose a LEO presses the elevator button for then 10th floor, but I press all of them then get off on the second floor. Annyoing? Yes. Felony? I hope not.

Being annoyed is part of life, especially when your job is to deal with the public. Unless there's actual harassment, assault, or obstruction, it shouldn't be a crime. As others have stated, the language "annoying" is far to broad and open to abuse. Although it does dove-tail nicely with stop-and-frisk...

[texanjoker]

So of we all lived in NY and your post annoys me can i arrest you for a felony?

[Excaliber]

Annoying LEO's is nothing new.

However, a bit of historical perspective may shed some light on the current discussion.

When I became an LEO in 1974, we were told to expect to be screamed at, cursed at, and called the vilest names citizens could think of.

We were also told that was part of being an LEO, and the way to deal with it was to grow a skin.

It worked well for us back then.

I sure hope the younger generation of LEO's in that state isn't so much more tender today that they need the protection of an anti annoyance statute.

[gigag04]

The worst time I got spit on it was a loogie right on the eyeball from a guy handcuffed (so I couldn't really fight with him).

Debate the charges all you want but he went for everything we had, including jaywalking, and walking with traffic, in addition to all the more serious charges.


For those asking about yelling, not a felony here. The harassment statute gets used a lot from inmates throwing feces at jailers.

[RX8er]

So of we all lived in NY and your post annoys me can i arrest you for a felony?

[RX8er]

Annoying LEO's is nothing new.

However, a bit of historical perspective may shed some light on the current discussion.

When I became an LEO in 1974, we were told to expect to be screamed at, cursed at, and called the vilest names citizens could think of.

We were also told that was part of being an LEO, and the way to deal with it was to grow a skin.

It worked well for us back then.

I sure hope the younger generation of LEO's in that state isn't so much more tender today that they need the protection of an anti annoyance statute.

I think sir you have nailed it.