4 ms·

Not everybody gets drunk within walking distance of their house and many (most?) cities have laws against public intoxication (eg walking drunk). Public transpo

Not everybody gets drunk within walking distance of their house and many (most?) cities have laws against public intoxication (eg walking drunk). Public transportation is one of those things that people shouldn't have to think about, it should just be available all the time (with varying service intervals). Mixed-use amazing and the US is incredibly backwards in that sense. I think we have a stigma against mixed-use because apartments used to have shitty sound insulation. That's not really a problem anymore...

jessaustin 11y ago
Is anyone cited for public intoxication merely drunk while in public, or are they instead drunk while causing a problem in public? I ask because in various cities I've had a fair amount of police contact while intoxicated, and never been cited. Typical exchange: "What are you doing?!" "Goin' 'ome, off'cer!" "You're too drunk to ride your bike. Get off and walk." "Ooookaaayyy..." If being drunk makes one an asshole, then one is in fact an asshole, and one should drink at home. Besides, train stations and bus stops are also public places. How is that supposed to work?
- zanny 11y ago
  We often get instances of US police using the public intoxication laws as a cart blanche means to arrest people: http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/stroke-victim-and-son-arrested-by-dpd-in-march-file-federal-suit-against-city-of-dallas-7131894 http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/stroke-victim-and-son-arr... This also happens with drunk passengers in cars. Police will order drunk passengers to get out of a car, to then immediately charge them with public intoxication. http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/news/sheriff-s-beat-deputies-stop-car-arrest-passenger-with-syringe/article_a2677e12-f10a-11e5-a54d-c32316f5b17b.html http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/news/sheriff-s-beat-deput... Nebulous laws like public intoxication statutes are rife for abuse by power hungry megalomaniac cops with no accountability or oversight.
  - gst 11y ago
    > Police will order drunk passengers to get out of a car, to then immediately charge them with public intoxication. In some states (e.g., Texas) a car counts as "public place" when it comes to intoxication. The passenger wasn't charged because he left the car, but he already violated the law by being intoxicated inside the car.
    - zanny 11y ago
      Which is a catch 22 on anyone drinking. You go to the bar, get drunk, and then cannot legally leave the bar to go home by any means, because where in every other state the correct action is to have a sober friend drive you home, in states like Texas you are still "public" despite being in someones private motor vehicle.
- losteric 11y ago
  > Is anyone cited for public intoxication merely drunk while in public, or are they instead drunk while causing a problem in public? Uh, YES. I am a quiet drunk, yet cops regularly hassle me to get in a cab just because I'm a little stumbly...
- SilasX 11y ago
  I remember Austin, Texas making headlines several years ago when cops started going into bars specifically to find drunk people to arrest, even if they were calm and were staying overnight in the same building. Unfortunately, I couldn't find clear substantiation of specific cases other than this article, which only talked about the danger of how the law made it possible to do what you're describing: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/texas-racist-laws-drinking-while-brown http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/texas-racist-law... >>Arrested for drinking in a bar? Sounds like the ultimate catch-22. Since 2006 ... cops ... have used a 1993 law as a pretext to enter any bar and arrest its patrons on the spot. The public intoxication standard, backed by the Texas-based Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is so broad that you can be arrested on just a police officer's hunch, without being given a Breathalyzer or field sobriety test. State courts have not only upheld the practice but expanded the definition of public intoxication to cover pretty much any situation...
  - jessaustin 11y ago
    Oy, I forgot about Texas. Things work differently there. It's clear, though, that my original statement was one of privilege: I'm not part of any of the more targeted communities. Still, can we expect intoxication to be more tolerated at the bus stop than it is anywhere else on the block? Perhaps the problem isn't so much giving LEOs discretion in writing citations, but rather it's having entirely too many LEOs in the first place. When they're busy with actual public safety work they won't have time for commemorative Stonewall Inn reenactments.
- ocschwar 11y ago
  "Is anyone cited for public intoxication merely drunk while in public, or are they instead drunk while causing a problem in public? " The legal term is usually drunk AND DISORDERLY. Though for some cops, "I don;t want to have to scrape his sorry carcass off the next crosswalk with a spatula" is disorderly.

jessaustin 11y ago

Is anyone cited for public intoxication merely drunk while in public, or are they instead drunk while causing a problem in public? I ask because in various cities I've had a fair amount of police contact while intoxicated, and never been cited. Typical exchange: "What are you doing?!" "Goin' 'ome, off'cer!" "You're too drunk to ride your bike. Get off and walk." "Ooookaaayyy..." If being drunk makes one an asshole, then one is in fact an asshole, and one should drink at home. Besides, train stations and bus stops are also public places. How is that supposed to work?

zanny 11y ago
We often get instances of US police using the public intoxication laws as a cart blanche means to arrest people: http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/stroke-victim-and-son-arrested-by-dpd-in-march-file-federal-suit-against-city-of-dallas-7131894 http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/stroke-victim-and-son-arr... This also happens with drunk passengers in cars. Police will order drunk passengers to get out of a car, to then immediately charge them with public intoxication. http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/news/sheriff-s-beat-deputies-stop-car-arrest-passenger-with-syringe/article_a2677e12-f10a-11e5-a54d-c32316f5b17b.html http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/news/sheriff-s-beat-deput... Nebulous laws like public intoxication statutes are rife for abuse by power hungry megalomaniac cops with no accountability or oversight.
- gst 11y ago
  > Police will order drunk passengers to get out of a car, to then immediately charge them with public intoxication. In some states (e.g., Texas) a car counts as "public place" when it comes to intoxication. The passenger wasn't charged because he left the car, but he already violated the law by being intoxicated inside the car.
  - zanny 11y ago
    Which is a catch 22 on anyone drinking. You go to the bar, get drunk, and then cannot legally leave the bar to go home by any means, because where in every other state the correct action is to have a sober friend drive you home, in states like Texas you are still "public" despite being in someones private motor vehicle.
losteric 11y ago
> Is anyone cited for public intoxication merely drunk while in public, or are they instead drunk while causing a problem in public? Uh, YES. I am a quiet drunk, yet cops regularly hassle me to get in a cab just because I'm a little stumbly...
SilasX 11y ago
I remember Austin, Texas making headlines several years ago when cops started going into bars specifically to find drunk people to arrest, even if they were calm and were staying overnight in the same building. Unfortunately, I couldn't find clear substantiation of specific cases other than this article, which only talked about the danger of how the law made it possible to do what you're describing: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/texas-racist-laws-drinking-while-brown http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/texas-racist-law... >>Arrested for drinking in a bar? Sounds like the ultimate catch-22. Since 2006 ... cops ... have used a 1993 law as a pretext to enter any bar and arrest its patrons on the spot. The public intoxication standard, backed by the Texas-based Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is so broad that you can be arrested on just a police officer's hunch, without being given a Breathalyzer or field sobriety test. State courts have not only upheld the practice but expanded the definition of public intoxication to cover pretty much any situation...
- jessaustin 11y ago
  Oy, I forgot about Texas. Things work differently there. It's clear, though, that my original statement was one of privilege: I'm not part of any of the more targeted communities. Still, can we expect intoxication to be more tolerated at the bus stop than it is anywhere else on the block? Perhaps the problem isn't so much giving LEOs discretion in writing citations, but rather it's having entirely too many LEOs in the first place. When they're busy with actual public safety work they won't have time for commemorative Stonewall Inn reenactments.
ocschwar 11y ago
"Is anyone cited for public intoxication merely drunk while in public, or are they instead drunk while causing a problem in public? " The legal term is usually drunk AND DISORDERLY. Though for some cops, "I don;t want to have to scrape his sorry carcass off the next crosswalk with a spatula" is disorderly.