Can you slander a police department?

Has anyone ever heard of a police department suing a filmmaker, musician or other artist for portraying their department in a false light or anything like that? I'm not sure a government entity can even do that. I know that police departments have trademarked logos, but that's about all I've ever heard of.

I'm looking to release a comedy prank call in which the "caller" is a yelled at, called gay slurs, and pepper sprayed by a certain police department division. Of course the call is so ridiculous that nobody would ever think that it's real.
 
You'd be fine, considering what you're putting out.

Slander/Libel requires a false statement that damages someone's reputation. Fiction is different than lying
 
If it's real (documentary) and you didn't claim anything false. Than it's okay.

but Ask a lawyer. just call one up, they should tell you over the phone if it's simple. Just don't expect them to hear what you recorded. explain it to them concisely.
 
Not sure about if they have a legal recourse, I wouldn't think so if you are simply showing real-life recorded footage. Depending on the laws in your state you may need a release or blur out faces. Your best bet is to talk to a lawyer about your specific footage.

Honestly though, if you are worried the police would be upset with the portrayal, I would be less concerned about their legal recourse and more concerned with the kind of harassment many departments have been reported to undertake of people they don't like.
 
Not sure which police department you're referring to. I know LAPD owns all movie and TV rights to their image, badges, cars, etc. I don't know what they charge, but it must be a lot for LA Center Studios to have an entire mock-up of LAPD headquarters for rent.
 
You absolutely can be sued, and you can't use their badges, decals, emblems, etc without permission. When Baca was still LA Sheriff, it was relatively easy to get permission to use the trademarks, but he was a media wh... never mind. Can you do what they did on T.J. Hooker and never mention the name of the city or the police department? The department was ONLY known as SCPD, with no city name ever attached. But I don't think I'd want LAPD Metro to discover during a routine traffic stop "Hey, you're the guy who did bla bla bla..."? Those guys have no sense of humor.
 
POLICE and an image of the state is vague enough you can't be sued.

I also like what true detective did this season and just have a standard sherifs star as the emblem for their shoulder patch.
 
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