They hate being called SovCits because they know it’s associated with crazy behavior. I watched a video recently of an arrest where one said that term was like making a racist comment. She and her husband both used some other nebulous term, but they were part of the same belief system as SovCits. But you’re right, I’m going on a single statement from LEO. Though I wouldn’t expect them to use that term pejoratively if it wasn’t true and they wished to discredit him. They’d make a claim having something to do with a law violation.
Police can be extremely vindictive. For instance, they tried to put this guy away in prison for potentially decades because he recorded phone calls of statements they made in an official capacity.
I've seen cops make statements that they must have known were not truthful to people's employers, seemingly for no purpose other than to damage the person's reputation after a heated (but legally protected) conversation. I've worked on bills where multiple members of law enforcement turned up to testify to say things that I'm pretty sure they knew were wrong, just to get their way in policy.
The sad reality is that there are many cops out there who lie to get their way and hurt people they don't like, and so I really don't find it hard to believe that they would accuse this guy of being a sovcit to damage his credibility.
edit: also in this case, remember that they've also accused him of resisting arrest when they went to get him for recording phone calls. So they've also made many claims that WERE about law violations.
I'll go out on a limb and say that not many people know what SovCit means and therefore it wouldn't be a typical discrediting / slandering title. Are cops liars? Absolutely. I think this wouldn't be an effective lie.
