Yesterday, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier released a statement on the incident. "I take concerns about the appropriate use of police powers very seriously," Lanier said. "Members who are found to have abused their authority are subject to both criminal and disciplinary penalties up to and including termination." So, was Culp canned over the slur-happy arrest?

Lanier refused to comment on the disciplinary penalties applied to Culp. But according to Lanier, Culp was not, at least, subject to criminal penalties over the arrest. The D.C. police's Internal Affairs Bureau "immediately launched a criminal investigation into the matter and subsequently referred the arrest to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for further criminal investigation and prosecution, if appropriate," Lanier says—but the Attorney's Office declined to prosecute Culp.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents Tuma, is looking for more than just discipline—it wants to revise D.C.'s "disorderly conduct" statute to reduce the possibility for police abuse. The ACLU told Fox 5 that "disorderly conduct" is "a false charge used every time an officer thinks someone has spoken disrespectfully or harshly to them, so we want that changed." Lanier disagrees with the ACLU's characterization of the law—she says that "disorderly conduct" is a necessary charge to prevent people from "urinating in public" or "blocking the sidewalk or road and refusing to let others pass." But she adds that D.C. police are committed to working alongside the ACLU to review the statute.

Lanier will say that Culp's tactic isn't exactly the D.C. police's preferred method for dealing with citizens who mouth off to cops. That would be something called "Verbal Judo."

"[B]elieve me, police do not make an arrest every time an officer thinks someone 'has spoken disrespectfully or harshly to them,'" Lanier's statement continued. "That happens everyday, and we train officers in a widely used tactical communication strategy (Verbal Judo) to defuse these situations." Lanier added that "Verbal Judo" is "by no means a magic wand," but that "it would be a mistake to let this case in which an officer is alleged to have acted outside both the law and Department policy drive the current discussion about revisions to the law."

Yes, but how? Five ways to appreciate, after the jump:

5. Refrain from bombarding their homes and offices with death threats.

4. Revisit Patricia Meisol's Washington Post Magazine piece on med student Lesley Wojick's difficult choice: To be an abortion provider, or not to be an abortion provider. Spoiler alert: While I'm sure she's a nice girl, nobody is explicitly requsting that you appreciate Lesley Wojick today.

3. Check out President Obama's proposed rescission of President Bush's "conscience rule," and send Health and Human Services a comment in support. Or against, if you don't appreciate the National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers.

2. Write to the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project, co-sponsor of National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers, and suggest they spring for a shorter name next year to aid in appreciation.

1. Get them something nice, mmkay?

Photo by NCinDC.