SB 156 addresses a law I thought was pretty unfair as a college student. Current law makes it a misdemeanor to be in a public place in a state of intoxication caused by the persons use of drugs or alcohol. That seemed unfair because if you were drunk (and, dear reader, sometimes I was) it shouldn’t be a crime if you weren’t hurting anyone.
SB 156 qualifies this to say you can’t be drunk in public if you’re endangering your life, the life of another, or breaching the peace or are in imminent danger of breaching the peace. That’s probably closer to fair, but I think it probably also makes a police officer’s job tougher. It’s no secret that drunk people cause more trouble. And, if you see someone who is really drunk but not actually “breaching the peace,” it’s probably just as well to get that person headed home. Probably the police can still make strong suggestions to that effect, but I imagine it creates some ambiguity about how to proceed if the drunk isn’t compliant.
I don’t think it will be that hard to find a drunk person “breaching the peace”:
Officer: Hey, I need to see your ID.
Drunk: I KNOW MY RIGHTS!!
Officer: Sounds like you’re breaching the peace.
It isn’t like the drunk will make a credible witness. Personally, I think most police are honorable and just want to see people safe, so I don’t expect this to be abused much, but I also don’t see it making much of a difference.
The police that were just trying to help will continue to do so, and the very few that want to be jerks can still do it, too.
You’re being too kind, Doug. Under the PI law they don’t have to even do a breathalyzer and they can charge you with PI. Then it’s your word versus the police officer in court. And we know the speech they give…”smells of alcohol, blood shot eyes, etc.”
It also encourages people to drive drunk. If you live a mile from home and you think you’ve had too much to drink, they can arrest you if you try to walk home.
Here’s another one. Know the designated driver push? Let’s say you go out and get loaded on New Years Eve. But you have a designated driver who drives you home. The DD gets stopped for some reason. The police can arrest you for public intoxication even though you did the responsible thing…the very thing you’re taught to do.
Basically we have a law that is enforced unevenly by police. They love the discretion in terms of being able to arrest peeople, but as a society is that what we really want…to give police a blanket right to arrest people then hope they act responsibly.
This is a great, great bill.
What constitutes “imminent danger of breaching the peace”? If you are breathing in such a way to prepare to shout, as determined by the officer, is that imminent danger?
Sounds too squishy to me. Which means, it can either be ignored, abused, or mis-interpreted which means its a bad law.
Dave, it’s stioll better than the existing law which gives the police officer the discretion to arrest you for no other reason than he says you consumed alcohol and are now in public.