Hate to say it, but I am siding with a Tory here :wink:
The presense of the police ceased to make it a "private conversation" and if warning was given maybe fair enough. There might be an argument though that police were harrassing, intimidating, bullying etc. This would depend on the facts.
The police do not have to receive a complaint to act.
The police are part people in that they are "civil" and not operating under a different jurisdiction, although also employees of the state with different powers of arrest.
The police have a duty to uphold the peace as well as the law so can use discretion. Whether this is well used (I`m thinking of the cartoon protests) is always debateable.
The speeding camara point is interesting as speeding is not necessarily strict liability, but swearing isn`t like dropping litter. And as MT says a speeding camara is simply a tool of law enforcement. Allegedly!
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