Officials Make Public Intoxication Arrests Inside Bars

nbc5i.com ^ | March 15, 2006

[billorites]

IRVING, Texas -- The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has taken its fight against drunken driving to a new level. TABC agents, along with Irving police, targeted 36 bars and clubs Friday, arresting some allegedly intoxicated patrons before they departed the businesses.

The officers and agents also kept watch on bartenders who might have over-served patrons.

Agents arrested 30 people Friday night. Most of the suspects now face charges of public intoxication.

The agents and Irving police officers traveled from bar to bar and worked undercover, according to an NBC 5 report.

The report also said that some agents shared tables with suspected drunken patrons. Some patrons were subjected to field sobriety tests inside bars.

Agents and officers said the operation represented an effort to reduce drunken driving.

Sgt. Chris Hamilton, of the TABC, said some inebriated bar patrons "end up killing themselves or someone else" after departing the businesses.

[383rr]

They were probably arrested in this sting. HAHA.

[blackdog]

Remember this.....Shows like "The FBI" and "Dragnet" were served up to us every week with scripts, set presence, and finance from the FBI's Hooverites. I was sold an awful lot of crap in my early youth. I shop more wisely now.

[wtc911]

Bars are public. Restaurants are public. The mall is public. Movie theaters are public. If you are drunk in any of them you are drunk in public.

[383rr]

Mr. Smith, please stand in front of the telescreen.......

I hate to say it, but it probably will come to pass , if people sit back long enough.

[383rr]

You know, we could all say "I TOLD YOU SO!"

[TKDietz]

Law enforcement in this country are getting more and more like the KGB. These cops were going into bars hanging out with people, acting like friends, while secretly they were plotting to bust them. We're seeing this more and more. It seems like law enforcement are just falling in love with undercover work.

Our local park ranger/ game and fish guys are in on the game now too, along with their federal equivalents. They hang out at local swimming holes and fishing spots undercover now, befriending people and then stabbing them in the back. They're looking for people drinking, smoking pot, fishing without a license, and so on. I was talking with one of the federal guys a couple of months ago in court and he was bragging about how fruitful and productive these undercover methods are for them. He told me that before they'd pull up in their marked cars and people would just quit whatever it was they were doing that was illegal, but when they mingle with folks undercover people will do illegal things in front of them or admit things to them. They get a lot more busts that way.

That day in court the local game and fish guys had a really big case on the docket. Three of them had shown up to testify in a littering case. A couple of them were working the swimming hole undercover and they saw a guy there with his family eating a pizza. They witnessed the man put the pizza box on top of his car while he and his family were eating, and when he got his family all loaded up later he drove off without removing the pizza box and it blew off into the road. Thinking fast, the undercover cop pulled out his cell phone and made a call for the uniformed guys down the road to stop these criminals before they got away. The cops even thought to bring the smoking gun evidence with them to court that day. They had that pizza box there ready to introduce into evidence. Now that's good police work. I'm glad to see our tax dollars are working hard for us.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm just a little bit bothered by the thought of police acting like spies sneaking around trying to bust people for minor infractions. It's one thing if they are going after some serious criminals, hit men, child molesters, terrorists, or something like that. But it really bothers me to see them using these tactics going after everyday people for piddly stuff. It's creepy to me to think that we have spies everywhere right here in the land of the free, that anyone you meet might be a cop out looking to bust you for something.

I'm not anti-police. I work as a public defender and I'm always in court. I spend a lot of time talking to these guys. Most of the deals I work out in municipal court I work out with the arresting officers first before I even talk to the prosecutor. I get to know these guys pretty well and most of them are decent reasonable good people just trying to do a job. Some aren't so decent though, and too many of them get too much of a kick out of the spy game. I suppose it's exciting to play spy. But getting your kicks out of befriending people with lies and then stabbing them in the back seems kind of like a character flaw to me. And it just seems un-American, especially when they're sneaking around spying on on regular folks trying to bust them even on little minor things. I have to bite my lip a lot because I just want to go off on some of these guys and tell them they should be ashamed of themselves for some of the stuff they do. I have to be as diplomatic as possible with that sort of thing because I have to work with these guys. I don't like watching this happen to my country one bit though.

[usapatriot28]

Unfortunately, the law is vague enough that it appears to rely entirely on the subjective judgment of the arresting officer, so I am not sure what defense you could even offer, other than the word of other witnesses, if you could track them down.

I wonder how many real crimes were committed within the jursidiction while this "sting" was going on.

[tiki]

1984???

I don't drink but this is insane.

[eeriegeno]

Next they will be weighing everyone as they enter and leave restaurants to see if the 'calorie consumption' laws have been broken!!!!

[brownsfan]

"Bars are public. Restaurants are public. The mall is public. Movie theaters are public. If you are drunk in any of them you are drunk in public."

Well let's see. Kelo says your home can be taken for public good. So, potentially, everywhere is a public place. Besides, you don't need to be drunk, ever. So, from time to time, we'll just stop in to make sure you're ok.

[TKDietz]

Do you think this is something law enforcement should be doing, going after people in bars who aren't bothering anyone? Who cares if someone is intoxicated in a bar as long as they aren't too intoxicated and as long as they aren't bothering people? Some drunk guy at a movie making noise and making an ass out of himself maybe ought to get busted, as should someone doing the same at the mall or library or whatever. People go to bars though to drink though, and a lot of them, if not most, drink enough to where a public intox charge would stick. Shoot, all police have to do where I live is say the person was drinking in public or appeared intoxicated and the judge will convict. It doesn't seem to take anything hardly for prosecutors to meet the burden of proof in a public intox case. Busting people in bars is like shooting fish in a barrel. It would be easy to do it, but what is the point? People in bars "assume the risk" of being around people legally intoxicated. Most of them probably are intoxicated to a degree themselves. Unless someone is getting out of hand, it makes no sense to bust them. To pick on a few of these people who happen to be unlucky enough to be the ones the cops decide to bust isn't even fair, and it's a waste of taxpayer money. And to use undercover cops who go in there and act like friends to these people before they stab them in the back just sucks. That's the kind of thing that gives police a bad name. If law enforcement want people in their communities to work with them and respect them them they shouldn't do things like this.

[Xenalyte]

Ron White is Tater Salad. His son is Tater Tot.

Extra points if you know his dog's name!

[panaxanax]

"It's creepy to me to think that we have spies everywhere right here in the land of the free, that anyone you meet might be a cop out looking to bust you for something."

I agree. I don't trust anyone anymore except old friends. Who knows, you might be a spy trying to get someone to admit to something? (just kidding, really)

What gets me is when I watch the show "Cops" on TV where they not only act as the police, but the judge and the jury by letting someone go because they ratted out their friend even though they were found to be in possession or whatever. If they've broke the law then arrest them. Let the judge and jury do the work after that.

We are just seeing the beginning of what is to become the norm. Welcome to Police State, USA.

[eddie willers]

Ya caught the Tater.

"I knew I had the right to remain silent.....I just didn't have the ability."

[wtc911]

I post fact. You post hyperbole.

[wtc911]

I don't agree with this sort of aggressive policing.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Not with me.

[brownsfan]

"I post fact. You post hyperbole."

And if you stick to facts without examining the entire situation... either you have no vision, or a small mind.

It is a fact that the more power you give a government, the more it will take. It's been proven through human history. It is a fact that it is easy for a government to legislate contrary to the wishes of a majority of citizens. It is a fact that the more submissive and docile citizens become, the more aggressive a government becomes.

But that's ok. Keep your narrow view. Just don't you dare whine when that guard dog turns on you.

[wtc911]

If you post hyperbole as if it were fact you might as well tell fairy tales as if they were history.

[takenoprisoner]

"Bars are public. Restaurants are public. The mall is public. Movie theaters are public. If you are drunk in any of them you are drunk in public."

Some bars are private clubs...maybe it's time to convert all our public bars into private bars so we can keep the gestapo and their boot lickers the hell out.