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I am not a lawyer, but I suspect this is a nearly foolproof way they can get you: 1) You mock the police 2) They claim this distracted them, interrupting them d

I am not a lawyer, but I suspect this is a nearly foolproof way they can get you: 1) You mock the police 2) They claim this distracted them, interrupting them doing their duty 3) You are arrested for interfering in the duty of a police officer Moral is to not taunt people with guns and the authority to arrest you.

lotsofpulp 4y ago
Are you aware the linked article is referring to a man that was arrested for mocking police online? No cop was distracted, interrupted, or interfered with in their duties in anyway. >The spoof of the Parma, Ohio, police department's Facebook page that Anthony Novak created in 2016 was not subtle. It included a job notice that said the department "is strongly encouraging minorities to not apply," a post advertising a police abortion van for teenagers, a warning that Parma had made giving homeless people food a crime so they would "leave our city due to starvation," and an announcement of "our official stay inside and catch up with the family day," during which anyone venturing outside between noon and 9 p.m. would be arrested. >Novak's parody, which was online for just 12 hours, prompted 11 calls to the police department's nonemergency line. Based on that reaction, Novak was arrested and prosecuted for violating a broadly worded state law against using a computer to "disrupt, interrupt, or impair" police services—a felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison.
- hombre_fatal 4y ago
  I don’t think he should be arrested, but there is a line to be drawn between mocking the police and fooling people into calling them like in TFA where he deleted the posts that made it clear that it was a joke. “ruining the joke” is often a euphemism for “it’s funnier when it fools people.” This stunt ended up acting more like a hoax in practice; it wasn’t just a snarky tweet. One of my favorite FB groups (and Twitter accounts) is https://mobile.twitter.com/elwooddogmeat https://mobile.twitter.com/elwooddogmeat which is a fake company that fake sells dog meat with the same marketing as cow/pig/chicken meat that sometimes gets a huge rise out of people. Imagine a case where it also creates a torrent of phone calls of concern to a public agency. Perhaps a better solution is for the police to contact Twitter/Facebook in such an event where the account gets a large parody banner for the lemmings who can’t read the joke.

lotsofpulp 4y ago

Are you aware the linked article is referring to a man that was arrested for mocking police online? No cop was distracted, interrupted, or interfered with in their duties in anyway. >The spoof of the Parma, Ohio, police department's Facebook page that Anthony Novak created in 2016 was not subtle. It included a job notice that said the department "is strongly encouraging minorities to not apply," a post advertising a police abortion van for teenagers, a warning that Parma had made giving homeless people food a crime so they would "leave our city due to starvation," and an announcement of "our official stay inside and catch up with the family day," during which anyone venturing outside between noon and 9 p.m. would be arrested. >Novak's parody, which was online for just 12 hours, prompted 11 calls to the police department's nonemergency line. Based on that reaction, Novak was arrested and prosecuted for violating a broadly worded state law against using a computer to "disrupt, interrupt, or impair" police services—a felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison.

hombre_fatal 4y ago
I don’t think he should be arrested, but there is a line to be drawn between mocking the police and fooling people into calling them like in TFA where he deleted the posts that made it clear that it was a joke. “ruining the joke” is often a euphemism for “it’s funnier when it fools people.” This stunt ended up acting more like a hoax in practice; it wasn’t just a snarky tweet. One of my favorite FB groups (and Twitter accounts) is https://mobile.twitter.com/elwooddogmeat https://mobile.twitter.com/elwooddogmeat which is a fake company that fake sells dog meat with the same marketing as cow/pig/chicken meat that sometimes gets a huge rise out of people. Imagine a case where it also creates a torrent of phone calls of concern to a public agency. Perhaps a better solution is for the police to contact Twitter/Facebook in such an event where the account gets a large parody banner for the lemmings who can’t read the joke.