Police should toughen up when being sworn at, says Australian magistrate

Civil libertarians in Australia believe the boys in blue should "toughen up" when it comes to swear words and have slammed a Townsville Magistrate who ruled it's unacceptable to call police officers "c**ts".

Queensland Council of Civil Liberties president Michael Cope yesterday said he did not stand by a decision from Magistrate Rod Madsen to outlaw calling police officers the "C" word. Mr Madsen this week fined 20-year-old Vincent labourer Zachary Shane Robertson $1200 for using the slur to abuse two policemen who attended a Pimlico party after a fight broke out.



"They have to put up with it and really it's just an excuse to charge people with an offence," Mr Cope said. "People do think the 'C word' is worse than the 'F word' but our view is that being sworn at is part of the job for police." The council president said members of the Queensland Police Service could not be offended or insulted by words which were not threats.

"Police in performance of their duties should be seen as in control and professional they should just deal with obscene language," he said. Mr Cope's comments come after he last year supported a controversial decision by Townsville Magistrate Peter Smid who threw out a case against an offender who repeatedly said "f*** off" to a policewoman.