US town to fine people $20 for swearing in public The measure could raise questions about constitutional free speech rights, but state law does allow towns to enforce local laws that give police the power to arrest anyone who "addresses another person with profane or obscene language" in a public place. Matthew Segal, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the government cannot prohibit public speech just because it contains profanity. The ordinance gives police discretion over whether to ticket someone if they believe the cursing ban has been violated. Middleborough, a town of about 20,000 residents, has had a bylaw against public profanity since 1968. But because that bylaw essentially makes cursing a crime, it has rarely if ever been enforced, officials said, because it simply would not merit the time and expense to pursue a case through the courts. The ordinance would decriminalise public profanity, allowing police to write tickets as they would for a traffic violation. It would also decriminalise certain types of disorderly conduct, public drinking and marijuana use, and dumping snow on a roadway.