Damn if this story doesn’t cover all the neoprohibition bases. Arresting people for crimes not yet committed. MADD reps actively engaged in the law enforcement effort.

The sad details:

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is saturating bars in the Abilene and San Angelo areas to arrest people for public intoxication, and bar or nightclub employees who sell alcohol to drunken customers.

The TABC campaign will continue through September 2006, said Lt. Randy Motz said. ”If we don’t arrest a bunch of people, then that’s fine. But we will do what we can to get them before they get in their car intoxicated.”

[...]

Heather Hodges, an Abilene-based MADD victims advocate, said her group is working closely with the TABC on the project.

”We believe responsible adults should drink responsibly,” Hodges said.

”And those that serve them should be responsible. A lot of people think it’s OK to be drunk in bar, but it’s illegal. A bar is not intended to be a place to get fall-down drunk … . You don’t have to be fall-down drunk to be considered drunk. Even after one drink, you aren’t 100 percent.”

Note the MADD rep’s quick descent to zero tolerance. These raids are justified to prevent irresonsible drinking — people shouldn’t be allowed to get fall-down drunk in a bar. A position many might find sympathetic (I don’t, of course) That turns into, “you don’t have to be fall-down drunk to be considered drunk.” And that turns into, “even after one drink, you aren’t 100 percent.” Remember, we aren’t even talking about driving, here.. These are patrons of a bar. The article notes:

People can also be arrested for public intoxication even if they have a designated driver.

Note also this bit of contradiction:

The good leiutenant tries to ease criticism by saying:

”We are meeting with retailers. We are not playing sneak attacks,” Motz said.

But then there’s this:

The state allowed the commission to hire 60 agents this year, Motz said.

Those new agents will be used to work undercover and as regular agents in the operation, he said.

How does one employ undercover cops without engaging in “sneak attacks?”

This crap makes me angry.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 10th, 2005 at 12:04 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Alcohol, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.