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Insulting police officers is a crimeTuesday 22 September 2009 Police officers do not have to have a thicker skin than ordinary citizens when it comes to being sworn at or insulted, the high court ruled on Tuesday. The court was looking at the case of a woman found not guilty of insulting four police officers in 2006 by calling them losers, suckers, and other swear words which loosely translate as bastard. She was freed after a lower court said police are expected to have thick skins and to be able take some abuse. The case is to be referred back to the appeal court for reconsideration, the Volkskrant reported on Tuesday. 'You often hear that the police should have a thick skin but that is not what the law says,' said a court spokesman. 'In fact, the opposite is the case. People who insult civil servants doing their jobs run the risk of being punished more severely.' © DutchNews.nl Get the DutchNews.nl newsletter in your mailbox: Click here to subscribe
Do not agree with the law that is being mentioned by the court spokesman. Insulting civil servants should be penalised in the same way as insults directed to other people. Civil servants do an important job, but other than that they're just one of us and not a higher breed. By Hans | September 22, 2009 5:08 PM Here we go again with abridgements of free speech! Of course it would be best if we were all kind and polite to one another, but I can't believe a western democratic society tells its citizens what they can and cannot say! By Kathleen | September 22, 2009 7:58 PM Swearing is better than farting at the police which one young fellow did in Austria in the police staion while being questioned and for which he was spot fined 45 euros. By v.ramaswamy | September 23, 2009 4:42 AM The traffic police in Holland are some of the rudest, arrogant shit heads I have come across in my life. They think because of their uniform it's an entitlement to treat the public worse than dogs, yet they shed crocodile tears when someone points out their actions make the Stasi in East Germany appear like moderates. By dangleberrry | September 23, 2009 9:05 AM I've yet to meet a Dutch policeman who was deserving of respect... and I am a law abiding citizen. I'm just sick of high and mightly cops who think a badge makes them immune to everything... By Laura | September 23, 2009 10:37 AM Policemen need a high self esteem to be motivated and resist corruption. To allow the public to insult police officers is counter productive. By Frans | September 23, 2009 10:44 AM THe problem here is how policemen proove that they were insulted.Let's take an extreme case.Police officer doesnt like me, they arrest me and some of his friends police officers go on court and testify that I insulted them. By kos | September 23, 2009 12:07 PM Unlike Laura, I have only met Dutch police who are fair and humorous, including the one who flagged me down on the Amstelveenseweg last night for not having a working bike light. I'll get it fixed and he let me cycle on. Cheers, meneer : )) By Darren | September 23, 2009 12:59 PM The police represent the law and if there is no respect for the law then that person should be punished. The ulternative is chaos, and that is already existing as evidence. Mind you, a person with a position of trust or authority who breaks the law and disrepects the institution that they are a part of should always face the maximum of penalities that he law provides. It goes both ways. By Solkhar | September 23, 2009 1:15 PM Oh my gosh, what a bunch of crybabies. When the police start doing the job they should be doing instead of whinging, then they will get respect. Until then, let the insults fly! By Linda | September 23, 2009 6:56 PM Right on, Solkhar. Regardless of how bad they are, they are to be respected. If they are wrong, report it, just as they report you. But tit for tat never did work, and still doesn't. when I lived in Holland for ten years, I saw some very nice, polite police officers. On the only occasion I did something wrong, they smiled and asked me not to be in the bike lane (new to the country and I didn't know what the red bricks were for). People in high position are sometimes not respected, but that is not the problem of them, but those who can't respect authority in any form. I don't want to live in any society that has no regard for order. By barbara | September 25, 2009 12:39 AM I agree with the 2nd commenter. Police and other people working for the government should not get special treatment. The same laws that apply to the rest of us should also apply to them. By Andrew | September 25, 2009 2:43 PM Place your comments: |
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She will probably be fined at most.
By sandra | September 22, 2009 2:36 PM