Texas arresting people in bars for being drunk

[tonioseven]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060322/us_nm/bars_dc

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - 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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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 drunkenness, Beck said.

The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.

"We feel that the only way we're going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this," she said.

"There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they're intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car," Beck said. "People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss."

She said the sting operations would continue throughout the state.

[TexasF355F1]

There doing something similar here in Houston. Except the cops are undercover, or in some cases in plain view seeing who comes out stumbling and acting an ass.

Bottom line, as long as you don't act drunk (even if you are) you won't get arrested.

But I still think it's dumb. I can see this going to court, b/c it is more or less is a set-up (i've drawn a blank of the technical term).

[Broke_as_****]

I can see the point but this is total and absolute bull****. They'd be better served sitting their happy asses outside or they better at least wait until the drunk tries to get into their car or walk in front of a bus. This kind of crap better not catch on anywhere else. And in Texas of all places...

[TerminalVelocity]

this just seems wrong...bars are not sposto let people get to that point, fine the bars not the people!

[Gohan Ryu]

Entrapment? Might need a good lawyer though since cops are pretty familiar with the law and they probably investigated how legal it is to do this before they started.

[Toksin]

It's not entrapment - the police would have to entice people into breaking the law for it to be entrapment.

It's fucking stupid, but if it's illegal to be drunk in a public place and bars aren't exempt, then there's nothing you can do.

Here they just kick people out of bars for being drunk.

[TerminalVelocity]

thats what they normally do....but I guess chuck Norris Texas Ranger wasnt satisfied....

[Damien]

"I wasn't drunk in PUB-LIC! I was drunk in a bar, they threw me into PUB-LIC!" -Ron "Tater Salad" White

[BleedDodge]

Just don't drink. Problem solved.

[Broke_as_****]

Originally Posted by BleedDodge

Just don't drink. Problem solved.

[TerminalVelocity]

Originally Posted by Broke_as_****

[2.2 Straight six]

Originally Posted by Damien

"I wasn't drunk in PUB-LIC! I was drunk in a bar, they threw me into PUB-LIC!" -Ron "Tater Salad" White

i've got that, it's so damn funny.

"here we know if a guy's gay if he's wearing a hat."
"in texas we know if a guys gay if he's got a haircut.......like....yours..."

5 stages of drinking's better thought. (larry miller)

[GForce957]

haha good one

[03cavPA]

Next thing ya know, they'll make drinking against the law, and outlaw alcohol.

Wait.......they tried that........umm, never mind. ;-)

[beef_bourito]

then you'll get jimmy-a-bootleggin', and of course a bunch of people dying because of a bad batch that had some methanol in it.