Posted by Eugene Volokh:
A Crime To Ridicule Police Officers?
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_02_15-2009_02_21.shtml#1235073125
Yes, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi:
Sec. 16-1. Abusing policemen.
It shall be unlawful for any person to revile, abuse or ridicule
any policeman of the city while in the discharge of his official
duties. (Ord. 1504, sec. 1, 5-13-64; Ord. 425, sec. 1--2, 9-17-14)
Pretty clearly unconstitutionally overbroad, especially since I
couldn't find any case that limited this to unprotected speech (such
as fighting words, which is to say individually targeted insults that
are reasonable likely to cause a fight). Even if limited to fighting
words, it might still be unconstitutional under R.A.V. v. City of St.
Paul. But without such a limitation, the matter is even more clear.
Judging by the archives of the [1]Hattiesburg American, arrests for
"ridiculing a police officer" (usually combined with other charges)
are not uncommon, though I can't tell from the brief summaries exactly
what the "ridicul[e]" consisted of.
References
1.
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=search&s_search_type=keyword&p_product=MHAB&p_theme=gannett&s_site=hattiesburgamerican&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=%22ridiculing%20a%20police%20officer%22&p_text_advanced-0=(%22ridiculing%20a%20police%20officer%22)
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