Is swearing at an toilet disorderly conduct???

[Penn]

Well - I did a quick search and couldn't find the actual statute, but I did find a couple CA PD web sites that have FAQ sections. Disturbing the peace is one of the FAQ's. Here are the links:

http://www.ci.manteca.ca.us/police/FAQ/ ... _peace.htm

http://ci.irvine.ca.us/ipd/info_center/police_faq6.asp


I'll try to find the actual statute later.

Thank you.

Okay - I finally found something. Not for CA specifically though

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/g ... 988okcr231

Here's a quote from the article.

"However, the United States Supreme Court specifically stated that police do not have "unfettered discretion to arrest individuals for words or conduct that annoy or offend them." See City of Houston, ___ U.S. at ___, 107 S.Ct. at 2511. "

I think this applies to disturbing the peace type calls nationwide and is probably what law is being cited in the web pages I posted earlier. Case law as opposed to statutorial law.

Your last post satisfied my curiousity for CA. Thanks.

As far as Texas, our Disorderly Conduct laws don't al

low for an offense if a person is annoyed or offended.

I thought that maybe this could be applied as far as the disorderly conduct noise statute (section 5) goes. Without a citizen complaint, is a Texas LEO able to decide if the noise is "unreasonable" and make an arrest or cite?

[txinvestigator]

Well - I did a quick search and couldn't find the actual statute, but I did find a couple CA PD web sites that have FAQ sections. Disturbing the peace is one of the FAQ's. Here are the links:

http://www.ci.manteca.ca.us/police/FAQ/ ... _peace.htm

http://ci.irvine.ca.us/ipd/info_center/police_faq6.asp


I'll try to find the actual statute later.

Thank you.

Okay - I finally found something. Not for CA specifically though

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/g ... 988okcr231

Here's a quote from the article.

"However, the United States Supreme Court specifically stated that police do not have "unfettered discretion to arrest individuals for words or conduct that annoy or offend them." See City of Houston, ___ U.S. at ___, 107 S.Ct. at 2511. "

I think this applies to disturbing the peace type calls nationwide and is probably what law is being cited in the web pages I posted earlier. Case law as opposed to statutorial law.

Your last post satisfied my curiousity for CA. Thanks.

As far as Texas, our Disorderly Conduct laws don't al

low for an offense if a person is annoyed or offended.

I thought that maybe this could be applied as far as the disorderly conduct noise statute (section 5) goes. Without a citizen complaint, is a Texas LEO able to decide if the noise is "unreasonable" and make an arrest or cite?

I can find no reason why not. I imagine the courts would frown on an officer citing a person in a house, for instance, without a complainant. However, I know a couple of LEOs who have written operators of vehicles who were "thumping". ;)