Texas suspends public intoxication stings

Associated Press ^ | April 13, 2006

[BJClinton]

The next step should be putting Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission Administrator Alan Steen in front of a firing squad.

I would piss on his grave afterward but I just hate standing in lines.

[Bear_Slayer]

Wednesday it has suspended a crackdown on public intoxication

Yeah?

Well I dare someone to walk around drunk on a public street. That should illustrate the difference between a public place and a private bar!

[weegee]

I could hear this cops fellow coworkers laughing at him all the the way in the parking lot at the police station.

I'm sure this guy's co-workers got a big laugh too.

Great Moments in Police Work (Texas City officer picked up in vice squad sting operation)

[elkfersupper]

Armed bandits.

Why not just ban booze?

Oh, I forgot. We tried that already.

[traviskicks]

Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.

[CowboyJay]

I didn't figger they'd get away with that for too long in the Republic.

[TKDietz]

"If they were illegal aliens, they would have walked."

Does that really happen? They sure arrest them here and overall I'd say offers from the prosecutors are not as good for Mexicans as they are for locals. On the whole they are probably punished a little worse for crimes we have on our state books. But, immigration is a federal matter, and most arrested here by state or local authorities are not deported as a result of their arrest. That's the federal government's fault. There are several illegals in our county jail right now with "holds" from INS. The problem is though that the feds will never pick these people up even though they know exactly where they are. If these illegals post bond on the state or local charges they have pending, or if they serve their time or plead to suspended sentences, the jail will end up letting them go. If INS won't come pick them up, the county jail can't keep them. There's no room and the law requires that they be released if the feds don't pick them up. Once the state or local court is done with them for violating state or local laws, their immigration infractions are a federal responsibility. The locals don't like releasing these known criminals, but there isn't a darn thing we can do about it if the feds won't do their jobs.

This is a real problem. The feds are really letting us down. I work as a public defender and I always have several clients who are illegal aliens. They are not getting it any easier than citizens when it comes to crimes they commit under local jurisdiction, those for which they can face charges levied by the city, county, or state. Like I said, they probably get nailed a little harder than locals charged with the same crimes. The cops don't like illegals, the prosecutors don't like them, judges don't like them, and jurors sure don't like them. Being an illegal alien is a definite strike against them in our system around here at least. Personally, I think they should face federal charges for being illegal aliens or at a minimum these known criminals should be deported and they should face harsh penalties if they return, especially those having been convicted of felonies before being deported. The feds refuse to act though and illegal aliens convicted of serious misdemeanors and often even fairly serious felonies are allowed to remain in our country even though we had them in our jails where the feds could have picked them up had they just cared enough to do it.

The feds don't care though. They are just stringing us along when they talk of doing something about the illegal alien problem. Not only are they not going to do anything about the otherwise law abiding illegal aliens here to work, but obviously they don't seem to care much about the criminal element who happen to be illegal aliens as well. That they won't deport these people is unforgivable. It wouldn't be that much trouble at all. They don't even have to go looking for them. All they have to do is send someone to our county jails to pick them up. But they won't. It's just too much trouble for them, I guess. If picking up the known criminals sitting in our county jails is too much trouble for them, they sure as heck won't ever go out looking for the millions who aren't doing things that get them put in jail.

[LibertarianInExile]

The bad news is that if they make money for fines, seems to me an obvious lawsuit against the bar by the perps for SERVING them. If you can sue the bar if you're killed by alcohol poisoning because they served you too much, seems to me you should be able to sue the bar if you're arrested for being publicly intoxicated, since they served you too much.

Far better to sue, and get the bars and Budweiser on your side, than let the WCTU squads win this because you accepted arrest for something everyone does in bars ANYWAY.

[cajun-jack]

Over here in NE Louisiana, you will get pulled over for thumping out a cig butt...littering...probable cause for drug search and dwi check

[bobwilgo]

At $500 a pop, they stand to make a lot of money on the fines.


This is really the main object of this whole fiasco.Arresting drunks at a bar?Two drinks in one hr will fail the sobriety test.It's win-win deal for the TABC,shaking down the middle class taxpayers.But they won't go to dinner theater where drinks are served nor a high class restaurant where judges and lawyers get drunk.

[bobwilgo]

Texas LEOs are arresting and fining US citizens for trivial things (such as sipping a pint at a bar) because they know that US citizens will pay the fines to avoid prison.



Oh,how true this is!!

[bobwilgo]

I can't believe this kind of stupidity would happen in TX. I would expect it here in CT, or in NY, MA, MD, NJ and some others, but not in Bush country.



I think they may have arrested the Wrong person.Maybe from City Hall.

[bobwilgo]

A Sheriff was driving a couple MPH under the speed limit to force people to pass. When they passed, he'd give them a ticket. Legalized larceny.


This very thing happened to me about 10 days ago.

[bobwilgo]

tonight I'm the Designated Decoy


How funny....lmao!

[ARealMothersSonForever]

I think they may have arrested the Wrong person

You would think absolutely correctly. And they were not "patrons". The $1 million that they were looking at fleecing is going to pale in comparison to the expense that a jury is going to hand down. That is why the legislature told them to cool it, while they review. And the Dallas Chamber of Commerce does carry some clout.

[bobwilgo]

To: jazusamo
A Sheriff was driving a couple MPH under the speed limit to force people to pass. When they passed, he'd give them a ticket. Legalized larceny



Here's a funny that happened to me many yrs ago

I just pulled into my driveway and city cop pulled in behind me.It had just gotten dark and I had my headlights on.He got outa his car and so did I and I walked to the back of my car where I met him taking my license plate number down.His patrol car still running w/his lights shining on the rear of my car so he could read my tags.I asked him what was up and he told me I had a headlight out.I said ..well it must have just went bad...He replied,"Well,you know that's what everybody says.But you know you need to inspect your vehicle BEFORE you drive IT"

I replied,"Are you gonna write me a ticket for this?"(He was already writing) "Yes sir I am".


I said,"well you better write yourself one too while your writing because...your right side headlight is out also." He wheeled around,saw it out,started stammering,"said it must of just went out cause they check 'em before each shift"

I said,"you know...that's what everybody says".He got in his car and drove off immediately. This really happened.

[stumpy]

I worked with some really, really sharp cops during my twelve years on the job. But I readily admit there were a fair number of really stupid people too. One of the guys I worked with was tagged with the nickname of "noodles".

While he had an outstanding memory for license plates, and vehicle laws, he had absolutlely no common sense. He once wrote up a school teacher returning to L.A. from Las Vegas at 0400 hrs for "watering a sagebrush", 30 miles from the closest open gas station.

This poor guy with a full bladder was literally out in the middle of nowhere when nature called. The cop did not have the common sense to realize there was nowhere else this guy could go, so he wrote him up. This put the guys job in jeapordy. Hence the name "noodles".

[unixfox]

At least this is what the Germans would like us to believe.

[kevao]

the program that sends undercover officers into drinking establishments.

Is this why we don't have enough police to raid businesses that employ illegal aliens?

[Centurion2000]

a better idea is to sit in the police car, in the parking lot of the establishment and nab those drunkereds (sic) who dare to drive home after one to many.

This I can understand and support. that way they won't nail DD's and their passengers.