Do you have a legal question on any subject? Answers will be provided free of charge if you write to the Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation through this column. Send your questions to the foundation at 19 S. LaSalle Street, Chicago, 60603.


Q. If you, while talking to a friend, refer to the police as ''cops,'' ''fuzz,'' or ''pigs,'' and are overheard by an officer nearby, can he arrest you or threaten to do so?

A. No. Courts have ruled that words such as these are political expressions, and as such protected by Constitutional free speech guarantees, so long as there is no intent to provoke a breach of the peace.

Q. Is it against the law for parents (or anyone besides yourself) to open your mail?

A. Probably, but there's not much that can be done about it. Federal law makes it illegal for anyone to open another person's mail. This should, of course, apply to parents as well as anyone else. But it's likely that most courts would be very hesitant to enforce this, especially if the minor lives with his parents and is supported by them.

In theory, the snooping parent would be guilty of a federal crime and invasion of privacy. But in practice, a minor who wanted to sue his parents would have a hard time getting the state to prosecute the case and a harder time convincing a court to find the parents guilty.