SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday.

The first sting operation was conducted recently in a Dallas suburb where agents infiltrated 36 bars and arrested 30 people for public intoxication, said the commission's Carolyn Beck.

Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkenness, Beck said.

The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.

"We feel that the only way we're going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this," she said.

"There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they're intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car," Beck said. "People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss."

She said the sting operations would continue throughout the state.



What... the... hell...

Quoted: SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday. The first sting operation was conducted recently in a Dallas suburb where agents infiltrated 36 bars and arrested 30 people for public intoxication, said the commission's Carolyn Beck. Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkenness, Beck said. The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car. "We feel that the only way we're going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this," she said. "There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they're intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car," Beck said. "People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss." She said the sting operations would continue throughout the state. What... the... hell...

One more reason not to go to the bar....

I'm suprised something like this would happen in Texas.  How about sending agents to Walmart and arresting people who don't belong in the country?  

Seems like private property to me. How can being drunk inside a bar be public intox ?

"The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car"

The wife and i go to the bar about 4 times a year, we take a taxi.

Glad to hear that our big brother is once again keeping an eye out for us.

So I'm taking a cab and some asswipe arrests me because I MIGHT drive? Cops MIGHT be child molesters themselves, better check out all their computers and such.

To paraphrase the line from Apocalypse now, this is like giving out speeding tickets at the Indy 500.

How the officers doing this can have a clear conscience is beyond me.

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