Texas: Two Guys Walk Into a Bar, One Leaves in Handcuffs
Saturday April 15, 2006
Category: Law Enforcement, Crime, and Punishment
Drunk and disorderly conduct? Illegal. Driving drunk? Illegal. Getting drunk in a bar and calling a cab? Well...maybe. Robert Longley reports on the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission's controversial Operation Last Call program, in which law enforcement officers monitored bars and arrested patrons--over 2,200, in all--under Texas' strict public intoxication laws.
Operation Last Call was shut down earlier this week after one Austin-based bar filed a lawsuit against the state, alleging that the State of Texas had "embarked on a deliberate and knowing course of conduct to drive [their bar] out of business."
Public intoxication laws are on the books in most states, but they are usually classified as public order offenses--much like laws regulating profanity and indecent exposure--and it is my understanding that they are only generally enforced in cases where the behavior has an unexpectedly disruptive effect on others. Being quietly drunk in a bar, in and of itself, is not generally an unexpected thing and does not generally have a disruptive effect--but being drunk at a local library, or the 10:30am Rite II Holy Eucharist at St. Timothy's, probably would. By having agents literally sit in bars and wait for patrons to get drunk, the State of Texas may well be operating within the limits established by its public order laws, but it is certainly enforcing them in a very uncommon way.
More to the point, it may be impossible for the state to prove that Operation Last Call does not constitute selective enforcement of Texas' public intoxication law. Because there are not nearly enough law enforcement agents to patrol every bar in the state, officers have unlimited latitude in choosing which bars to target. If the Austin-based bar is correct in its claim that it has been unfairly targeted by law enforcement--and the abrupt discontinuation of the program suggests that it at least arguably is--then this may be the last anyone hears of Operation Last Call or similar initiatives, simply because of the logistical problems involved.
See also:
Drunk and disorderly conduct? Illegal. Driving drunk? Illegal. Getting drunk in a bar and calling a cab? Well...maybe. Robert Longley reports on the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission's controversial Operation Last Call program, in which law enforcement officers monitored bars and arrested patrons--over 2,200, in all--under Texas' strict public intoxication laws.
Operation Last Call was shut down earlier this week after one Austin-based bar filed a lawsuit against the state, alleging that the State of Texas had "embarked on a deliberate and knowing course of conduct to drive [their bar] out of business."
Public intoxication laws are on the books in most states, but they are usually classified as public order offenses--much like laws regulating profanity and indecent exposure--and it is my understanding that they are only generally enforced in cases where the behavior has an unexpectedly disruptive effect on others. Being quietly drunk in a bar, in and of itself, is not generally an unexpected thing and does not generally have a disruptive effect--but being drunk at a local library, or the 10:30am Rite II Holy Eucharist at St. Timothy's, probably would. By having agents literally sit in bars and wait for patrons to get drunk, the State of Texas may well be operating within the limits established by its public order laws, but it is certainly enforcing them in a very uncommon way.
More to the point, it may be impossible for the state to prove that Operation Last Call does not constitute selective enforcement of Texas' public intoxication law. Because there are not nearly enough law enforcement agents to patrol every bar in the state, officers have unlimited latitude in choosing which bars to target. If the Austin-based bar is correct in its claim that it has been unfairly targeted by law enforcement--and the abrupt discontinuation of the program suggests that it at least arguably is--then this may be the last anyone hears of Operation Last Call or similar initiatives, simply because of the logistical problems involved.
See also:
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