Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday. The first sting operation was conducted recently in a Dallas suburb where agents infiltrated 36 bars and arrested 30 people for public intoxication, said the commission's Carolyn Beck. Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkeness, Beck said.In other news, why haven't I been blogging lately? I don't really know.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Texas!
That should be a musical.
My friend Andrew sent me this story.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
To me, this is like going to the gym and arresting the people in the showers for public nudity. As long as the behavior is appropriate to the venue, I see nothing wrong with it. Now, if you're being disruptive and puking all over the bar, *then* maybe an arrest is in order, but otherwise, it seems kind of silly to me.
ReplyDeleteAdding to Mandy's comment, it's very analogous to the public lewdness cases involving vice officer that I've seen. I've seen more that one case where vice officers had gone into a strip club, paid hundreds of dollars for table dancex, and then arrested the dancers with public lewdness. Now that's tax money well spent!
ReplyDeleteThey say the goal of these raids is to prevent drunk driving. If that's the case, they should wait in the parking lot and arrest the person as they try to get into the driver's side of the car. Arresting a person before they actually drive, when the goal is to prevent drunk driving, seems too similar to arresting someone before the actual commission of the crime.
excuse my poor typing and wording in my previous comment! Ugh!
ReplyDeleteJen says:
ReplyDeleteArresting a person before they actually drive, when the goal is to prevent drunk driving, seems too similar to arresting someone before the actual commission of the crime.
Too similar? It's not that it's _similar_; that's _exactly_ what this is.
I disagree. I don't think that's exactly what it is since they are making legitimate public intoxication arrests. Althought I disagree with the arrests, they can be seen as legitimate because they technically are allowable.
ReplyDeleteThe drunk driving rationale was even more absurd in some cases. According to Rachel Maddow on Air America, many of the arrests were made in hotel bars, and many of the arrestees were registered guests of hotels.
ReplyDeleteAh, but those were the instances where they wanted to prevent such stupid drunken behavior as jumping off of hotel balconies into the swimming pool (according to a statement made by some woman at the commission). Which is still an absurd reason for the arrests.
ReplyDeleteSteven sent me this link today and I thought it might interest you. It's the TABC's responses to questions about recent sting operation. http://www.tabc.state.tx.us/help/SIP.htm
ReplyDelete