Dude, even Lou Pinella was impressed by that display!

joedirt: I either expressed myself poorly, or I'm not understanding what you said, because we're really not that far apart. You generally have a right to tape police officers in public places, but AFAIK, in Florida you don't have a *RIGHT* to make audio recordings ("intercept oral communications") of police officers taking statements or having private conversations if they refuse consent. Further, information in police reports is not necessarily public, and there are laws regarding its disclosure. In other words: Arguably you have a right to tape from 20 feet away, arguably you DON'T have a *RIGHT* to tape from 1 foot away. If you have caselaw that indicates otherwise, I'll be happy to take a look.

Both the links you gave deal with entirely different situations, and the authorites in those situations behaved reprehensibly.

As far as "fuck" being a constitutionally protected word, Florida has a wonderfully overbroad nuisance statute, and some interesting statutes regarding what constitutes lawful assembly and lawful political protest. When dovetailed together with the even stricter local laws (Pinellas County?), it gets to be a pretty confusing mess. No doubt a lot of the laws would be deemed unconstitutional, but cops have to enforce the law they're given at the time and not interpret it. If the state or local legislature passes a law saying you can't hold a sign saying "Fuck" in public, it's not fair to say the cops are abusing their power when they enforce it.