In light of last night's National Championship, I thought that a brief reminder that it is illegal in Florida to breach the peace with an out of hand orange and blue celebration was in order. Take note:
877.03 Breach of the peace; disorderly conduct.--Whoever commits such acts as are of a nature to corrupt the public morals, or outrage the sense of public decency, or affect the peace and quiet of persons who may witness them, or engages in brawling or fighting, or engages in such conduct as to constitute a breach of the peace or disorderly conduct, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
I particularly like the broad sweep of the statute to include everything and anything that anyone could conceive of as a corruption of public morals or outrage of public decency. As phrased, you could be a Gator fan living in Tallahassee and breach the peace just by being in public and celebrating your big victory last night by yelling and screaming or teasing Seminoles fans about their final ranking.
While I am all for law and order, I find the scope of this statute a little unsettling. As you can imagine, it gives police and prosecutors broad scope to keep the people at bay at public gatherings.
So - all you Gator fans, keep an eye out when you head out tonight. The police office might just be a UM fan.
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