Stop Arresting People

[jsharmon7]

Man where do some of you hang out? I assisted another agency just the other night with a drunk passenger after the driver was arrested. We waited around for 20 min. in the cold on the side of the road after the tow truck left to find the guy a ride. I heard several other instances come across the radio to the same effect, including a trooper who had dispatch call a cab to come get a drunk passenger. I think there is a lot more to some of these stories.

 

[Ramen]

I think the red part is only true if the passenger steps OUT of the vehicle into the PUBLIC. I could have been given bad info though.

In Indiana a vehicle is considered to be a "public place". You do not have to step out of your car to be arrested for Public Intoxication.

 

[LPMan59]

i like Ron White's routine:

I wasn't drunk in public. I was drunk in a bar. I was thrown into public.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

In Indiana a vehicle is considered to be a "public place". You do not have to step out of your car to be arrested for Public Intoxication.

Depends on where your vehicle is.

Some in my neighborhood like to park their cars on their lawns.

j/k

 

[Kirk Freeman]

If someone is in a state of public intoxication, I would be hard press to say the cops should let them go.

Because drunken, but hot sorority chicks are a threat to public safety.

I've got to enforce the law! Look at how hot she is!

I went to McDonald's today and ordered a Big Mac. I told the guy at the counter that I only wanted to pay $.25 for it because I didn't agree with the price McDonald's was asking for it. He told me that he agreed with me but there was nothing he could do about it.

I can chose to do business with McDonald's. I cannot chose to do business with the government; they threaten to come to me.

 

[hornadylnl]

Man where do some of you hang out? I assisted another agency just the other night with a drunk passenger after the driver was arrested. We waited around for 20 min. in the cold on the side of the road after the tow truck left to find the guy a ride. I heard several other instances come across the radio to the same effect, including a trooper who had dispatch call a cab to come get a drunk passenger. I think there is a lot more to some of these stories.

I'm guessing the "more to the story" that I posted above was that the guy was making use of his first amendment rights.

 

[Ramen]

Man where do some of you hang out? I assisted another agency just the other night with a drunk passenger after the driver was arrested. We waited around for 20 min. in the cold on the side of the road after the tow truck left to find the guy a ride. I heard several other instances come across the radio to the same effect, including a trooper who had dispatch call a cab to come get a drunk passenger. I think there is a lot more to some of these stories.

Not every officer is going to arrest someone who is trying to make it home as a passenger or by walking. The problem is that the officer CAN decide to arrest someone for public intoxication after making a subjective determination that the person was intoxicated by means of alcohol and was in public. That is all it takes. Amount of alcohol consumed and actions of the person (walking home quietly or peeing on the sidewalk) do not matter.

The law needs to be changed so that a citizen knows what constitutes public intoxication regardless of the police officer they come into contact
with. Or, so that a person walking or riding home after a couple drinks is not going to be arrested if they mind their own business and do not cause a disturbance.

Otherwise you might as well make drinking outside of your home illegal.

 

[hornadylnl]

Otherwise you might as well make drinking outside of your home illegal.

I've heard you can get a PI for drinking on your front porch as well.

My coworker told me about an incident that happened to him a few years ago. He was a drunk passenger in a vehicle and the driver was drunk as well. While sitting in line at a Taco Bell drive through, they were getting tired of how long it was taking. The driver honked the horn and the guy in front of them stuck his arm out the window and flipped them off. Being that the driver had liquid courage in him, he started laying on the horn. The driver got out of the car and so did the driver in front of them. It got into a pretty ugly fight. My coworker got out to try to equalize the fight as the driver in front was much bigger and was pounding his friend. The cops showed up and his friend got nailed for DUI and I don't know what all. The cops told my coworker to unass the AO and he wasn't charged with anything. He was more then thankful.

As far as PI's go, there is too much gray area. I think it mostly depends on whether the officer dealing with you likes you or not.

Let's say I'm about .1 - .15 walking down the sidewalk. I'm minding my own business, not making a disturbance in any way but I'm showing mild to moderate signs of intoxication. I'm not walking the greatest but show no signs of falling over. A cop pulls up to check me out. I tell him that I'm fine, I'm almost home, and to go love himself. Am I going to get hooked up for PI? I caused no disturbance until he stopped me. Are my words worthy of being charged?

 

[ThrottleJockey]

I love how every time an LEO encounters a post of an experience that makes some of them seem "less than honorable" the response is ALWAYS, WITHOUT FAIL, "I'm guessing there must be more to the story". Wouldn't it just be much easier to come to grips with the fact that many, not all, but many LEOS are power hungry and abusive of their powers?

 

[jsharmon7]

I love how every time an LEO encounters a post of an experience that makes some of them seem "less than honorable" the response is ALWAYS, WITHOUT FAIL, "I'm guessing there must be more to the story". Wouldn't it just be much easier to come to grips with the fact that many, not all, but many LEOS are power hungry and abusive of their powers?

Nobody said that here:
https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...e_after_mistaken_identity_with_the_law-2.html

Or here:
https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...an_over_for_anti-obama_sign_on_vehicle-2.html

These are just the first two examples I pulled off the first page of the Politics subforum. People like me tend to say there must have been something more because 99% of the time it doesn't happen. It's just like the countless other anti-LEO stories that are posted here, there's always one. Instead of understanding that concept some of you prefer to act like the exception is the rule because it fits in with your jaded views of law enforcement.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

Nobody said that here:
https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...e_after_mistaken_identity_with_the_law-2.html

Or here:
https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...an_over_for_anti-obama_sign_on_vehicle-2.html

These are just the first two examples I pulled off the first page of the Politics subforum. People like me tend to say there must have been something more because 99% of the time it doesn't happen. It's just like the countless other anti-LEO stories that are posted here, there's always one. Instead of understanding that concept some of you prefer to act like the exception is the rule because it fits in with your jaded views of law enforcement.

I've read it in 3 threads over the weekend, including this one. I am NOT anti LEO, nor was the post intended to be, I just find it funny how some are more than willing to automatically jump to the conclusion that EVERY LEO is honorable and handles EVERY situation properly no matter what the facts. Cops are people too and make mistakes or take frustrations out on the job. Prone to the SAME behaviors as the rest of us.

 

[jsharmon7]

I've read it in 3 threads over the weekend, including this one. I am NOT anti LEO, nor was the post intended to be, I just find it funny how some are more than willing to automatically jump to the conclusion that EVERY LEO is honorable and handles EVERY situation properly no matter what the facts. Cops are people too and make mistakes or take frustrations out on the job. Prone to the SAME behaviors as the rest of us.

You're right, cops are human and do make mistakes. I would never argue anything else. The problem is, as I said, that a lot of people see one story and want to jump all over ALL cops. The reason I posted the links to those two threads was that you said "ALWAYS, WITHOUT FAIL," and that is simply not the case. I think you'll find a lot of officers on this site will respond to a story saying that a mistake was made. Not always, but it happens plenty. Phylodog has posted on several threads that he thought an officer in a posted story was wrong.

 

[SemperFiUSMC]

I've read it in 3 threads over the weekend, including this one. I am NOT anti LEO, nor was the post intended to be, I just find it funny how some are more than willing to automatically jump to the conclusion that EVERY LEO is dishonorable and handles EVERY situation [strike]properly[/strike] poorly no matter what the facts. Cops are people too and make mistakes or take frustrations out on the job. Prone to the SAME behaviors as the rest of us.

Some people think this too.

Not taking a side, but there are two sides to every coin, and every story. It depends on who's telling the story which side you hear. Unlike a coin, the first story is not often the absolute truth.