Every so often a video pops up from Brazil of someone getting arrested for desacato à autoridade — contempt of authority. Over here in California, that simply doesn't exist in the same form — and the difference says a lot about how the law works here.
Fair warning: we don't work for the Brazilian police, so the Brazil side is based on what you see out there. The focus here is explaining how it works in the United States.
In Brazil: two crimes rolled into one
From what we understand, desacato in Brazil bundles two things: disobedience (refusing to comply with an officer's order) and insult/honor (cursing at or disrespecting the authority). Here in California we only have that first part.
In California: freedom of speech is absolute
Here, freedom of speech is absolute. A person can call you every name in the book — and there's no crime in that — as long as they comply with a lawful order and don't make a real threat. If they disobey the lawful order, then yes: that's obstructing an officer (Penal Code 148). If they're causing a disturbance somewhere, that's the 415. But the cursing itself, on its own, is not a crime.
And a "lawful order" has requirements: the officer needs a reason to be there (responding to a call, for example) and the order has to be legal — ordering someone to "jump off the bridge" doesn't count. For a threat to count, it has to be real and concrete ("I'm going to draw my gun and shoot you"), not some vague "I'll end you."
Why an institution "has no honor"
The legal argument behind this — and there's a very good article on the subject by NISP (Novas Ideias na Segurança Pública, a think tank made up of police officers who are also researchers) — is simple: honor is subjective, hard to measure even in a person. In a public institution, which is not a person, there's no measuring it at all. The officer on the street represents the State — and the State has no honor to be offended.
"A person can call me every name there is, because I'm out there representing the State. The State has no honor — it's something you can't quantify."
On the civil side it's the same logic: there's only a case if there's a quantifiable financial loss (then it becomes defamation with damages to prove). Cursing with no measurable loss gives you no argument — not in criminal court, not in civil court.
Who's talking here: Eliel Teixeira and Edwin Wu are active-duty police officers in the Los Angeles area, California — Brazilian-born, American citizens, with long careers in law enforcement. On Palavrão Tático, they talk cop-to-cop, for officers and enthusiasts, with no translation into civilian language.
Heads up: everything described here applies to California rules — and, on several points, to each officer's specific department. In other US states (Florida, Texas, New York…) the rules can be quite different.
Watch this part of the episode:
Does contempt of authority exist in the US? Understanding obstructing an officer (Section 148) — starting at 5:32 · Palavrão Tático
This article is a reference edition of episode 39 of Palavrão Tático and is subject to edits and editorial additions. For the full conversation, watch the episode. — Updated on 06/08/2026.
