Two Drink Misdemeanor
Drinking is just as much of a part of Texas as leather chaps, cow pies and wild, unnecessary gunfire. But the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission didn’t see it that way when they launched “Operation Last Call” in which people were arrested for being drunk…in a bar. That’s some crack investigative team the TABC has. Now they’ve announced their putting the operation on hold…
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) – A controversial Texas programme to send undercover agents into bars to arrest drunks has been halted after a firestorm of protest from the public.
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has “temporarily suspended” what it called “Operation Last Call” even though it still believes it was worthwhile, commission spokeswoman Carolyn Beck said on Thursday.
“We understand that everything has room for improvement, this included,” she said.
Why the moritorium on the arrests? Two reasons: one, the program is being examined by the Texas Legislature because apparently things like funding education, fighting crime and keeping drugs off the streets can wait, and two, the public’s outcry against the program was so loud, the Legislature suffered hearing damage.
On the one hand, it makes sense. Admit it. People who get drunks in bar often try to drive themselves home even if they can’t remember what pocket they put their keys in. But on the other hand, TABC operatives were just arresting people if they were drunk in a bar regardless of whether they were going to drive themselves home or not. According to stories in the Houston Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News, TABC agents arrested some people who were drunk in a hotel bar who were staying in the same hotel. But come on, you don’t want drunk people operating an elevator. They might take the sucker out for a joyride.
But TABC insists the program was a success because they only arrested people who were dangerous drunk and might have tried to drive had they not stepped in and saved the day. But the real issue here is what exactly is public? If you’re in a bar and not wandering the streets like a blind zombie, is that technically “public” intoxication? That’s like being arrested for eating pizza at Chuck ‘E Cheez if eating pizza at Chuck E. Cheez were a crime…and it should be. I’ve tasted tires that taste better than that pizza.