Fairfax county police had a holiday surprise for restaurant and bar patrons the last couple of weeks. Officers went into these hot spots and starting pulling customers outside for sobriety tests and arresting them for public drunkenness if they flunked.-Even if they caused no disturbance and had no intension of driving. They are not distinguishing between those who intend on taking a taxi or those who do have cars in the parking lot.

My questions are how do you all feel about this and will it effect your lifestyle at all? Isn't this a violation of rights? (When will they start knocking on your door at night and give you a breathalizer before you go to bed!)

Yikes! It's things like this that make me glad I live here. ;)

What an awful country, we should invade and liberate the locals. That really pissed me off. :D

Whoah that does sound like a violation of rights, but then again I do think that public drunkeness is a crime and though the individual may not do harm the police can't differinciate one type of drunk from the other and therefore they punish everyone and get paid for it [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Erm...dude... they were INSIDE establishments where alcohol is being served, how can that be a crime ?

So police went into bars and arrested anyone who was drunk? Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

That is unbelievable, in a country where you are allowed to buy machine guns you aren't allowed a quiet drink.
What next?, confiscating radios to eliminate noise pollution?, Taliban like indeed!.

<font color="#ffccff">It should be noted that the penalty for public drunkeness is a fine...and it should also be noted that Fairfax County is in a budget crisis...this is nothing more than traffic cameras taking pictures and billing the drivers. Drunks do make easy targets since they all congregate at bars. One more way for the state to generate revenue and one more reason why people should get rid of the current local officials....in my opinion. </font>

[ 01-10-2003, 09:36 AM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

Well if they have to persecute people to balance the books perhaps they should just raise taxes!

Like magik said it's all about raising money, (I know back home anyway) to raise local taxes in the county for anything they have to hold a general vote, city/county planners can't do it on their own, and people will rarely vote in favor raising taxes, as a result the police are extremely anal (alot of them are also rejects from other counties) and will take the slightest excuse to not only pull you over and search you, but will also fine you for things that would normally get a warning. I also know alot of people, not troublemakers, who have had policemen lie in wait for them, off of main roads where violations are likely to be committed, or be dangerous to anyone if they are committed (who really cares if you speed on an abandoned country road)/ to the point where they had to change their driving routes just to avoid being pulled over every time they go by, because the cops recognise their vehicle.

[ 01-10-2003, 10:16 AM: Message edited by: Morgeruat ]