"drinking in public"

[thrila]

And i thought the UK was a nanny state!

I spent the better part of yesterday celebrating my degree results drinking beer in the park at a bbq.  The solution is simple- emigrate to a country where you can drink in public

[wrag]

Seatbelt laws are actually kinda there for your own good. I got in a wreck wearing my Seatbelt wrong and busted my head open on the window... it sucked. 

While you may be correct in you statement IMHO you are INCORRECT in your attitude.

It should be your RIGHT to decide, not the Governments.

[wrongwayric]

I know there have been several instances where the police have pulled over a car after seeing it leave a bar, asked if the driver had been drinking.  the driver responds no, that they are the designated driver.

officer tells the passengers to exit the vehicle, asks if they have been drinking, if they say yes, public intoxication, because they got out of the car.

FAKE!!!!!! 
If the officer "ordered" the passenger out of the vehicle and he complied, even though he may be drunk he was obeying a police officers command. He can not be arrested for public intoxication in that instance and if he was he's got one heck of a lawsuit.
Had he not gotten out of the vehicle he would have be refusing a police officers command and then could have been arrested.

[REP0MAN]

FAKE!!!!!! 
If the officer "ordered" the passenger out of the vehicle and he complied, even though he may be drunk he was obeying a police officers command. He can not be arrested for public intoxication in that instance and if he was he's got one heck of a lawsuit.
Had he not gotten out of the vehicle he would have be refusing a police officers command and then could have been arrested.

If the story is true, it's entrapment and it will end up in the dismissal of charges. I doubt a lawsuit would win, but you could try.

To the original poster.....

The apartment complex is privately owned property BUT is a multiple dwelling property that is not off limits to police. Police patrol apartment complexes for many reasons, all depending mostly on the caliber of neighborhood it is in.

He is correct that you are in a community area while consuming alcohol, which is illegal without a permit or permission from the legal owner or caretaker of the property. By your own admission.....

I was in my garage in my apartment, my BBQ pit was about 8 feet out in my driveway, car parked just behind it.
I was sitting there drinking a beer in a chair watching the pit temp and doing your typical BBQ rituals..

....you say that you are IN the garage in a chair. The BBQ is 8' from you in an area in front, and beyond, your garage door. I would assume by the phrase "doing your typical BBQ rituals", you made your way between the chair INSIDE the garage and the BBQ OUTSIDE the garage. (Remember the magical line of Breaking and Entering is the threshold of a door or window.) Had you remained IN the chair the ENTIRE time you were in the officer's plain view, you should not have had this encounter. I assume you were not in the chair.

Regardless of the semantics of 8 feet and PI, you were not causing any trouble. I assume nobody called in to say your music was too loud, you were drinking or any other reason people call the police. I assume that he OV'd you with an alcoholic beverage and took it upon himself to warn you about a possible infraction. He didn't take you to jail, write you a ticket or even ask for your ID (he has the right to ask for your ID for whatever reason he wishes and you have the lawful obligation to follow the request). I would be happy that the Police in your area are proactive enough to drive your complex, keep their eyes open and notice when things may not be right. That is admirable and shows that this officer and his department care enough to actually do their job and keep you safe.

For the record, I am LE and I could care less if you drink in front of your apartment so long as you do it peacefully.

[Wingnutt]

I have nice chairs with cup holders, cant take my beer with me, gotta flip, baste..  etc etc.. 

for the record, the entire time the cop was around, i never left the chair.

[Wingnutt]

He didn't take you to jail, write you a ticket or even ask for your ID (he has the right to ask for your ID for whatever reason he wishes and you have the lawful obligation to follow the request). I would be happy that the Police in your area are proactive enough to drive your complex, keep their eyes open and notice when things may not be right. That is admirable and shows that this officer and his department care enough to actually do their job and keep you safe.

For the record, I am LE and I could care less if you drink in front of your apartment so long as you do it peacefully.

Yea, like I said, the officer was actually pretty cool about it, he didnt have the "cop aire" to him at all..

but it just buggs me that such a thing is actually possable..  getting arrested, in posted private property.. in a dwelling on said private property for "public intoxication"

[SD67]

Here in Australia if you don't have a tinnie in your hand, dressed in a blue singlet, stubbies (shorts) that are at least one size too small and wearing thongs for at least 8 hours a day you are obviously gay.

[Reschke]

Sounds like a cop just looking around on a slow day to me. If they pull up in my driveway and ask me to take my beer inside I am going to ask my lawyer buddy on the corner to come over and my preacher friend next door to come over as well. I might need help from God and the attorney by the time I get done on my property.

[lazs2]

thrilla.. you really have do not have much freedom.. you just are behind a little..  you can't smoke anymore in your "pubs" it won't be long before you can't drink in public.. there are lots of places here that you can.   you also can't even take a sip of water in your car if you are driving so I really don't need to hear about freedom from some socialist.

lazs

[lazs2]

as for the topic.. You are not on private property... least not your private property..  the property is now under some weird "public property" thing like bars and eateries have become.. How do you think they banned smoking in bars?

Oh.. and cap or whoever who got in a 45 mph wreck and is convinced he woulda died without seatbelts.. the wreck I was in was in a corvair.. I was in the backseat.. we hit an oak tree at 45mph plus.. no one died.  course..if we would have been wearing seatbelts then we would have been used in the stats as 3 guys whose lives were saved by em.

If you really like to think that you would like me then do the right thing and quit telling me what to do.. at the very least quit telling me what to do with the force of law behind it.

we have been manipulated by the insurance companies.

lazs

[storch]

that is something they do in the crime ridden neighborhoods around here.  you don't see too many folks drinking in public anywhere other than the beach.  the only restriction on the beaches are no glass containers but you can drink yourself into a stupor and drown in a rip tide with no one bothering you.  

[REP0MAN]

Here in Australia if you don't have a tinnie in your hand, dressed in a blue singlet, stubbies (shorts) that are at least one size too small and wearing thongs for at least 8 hours a day you are obviously gay.

Uh-o.....

That's my department's current Summer uniform.

I'll notify the chief!

[Jackal1]

steering columns are built to collapse.

on another note though, i've been thinking about this while working. these seatbelt laws are actually VERY ridicoulous. they KNOW that you aren't going to wear one if you don't want to. they are nothing more than a revenue generating method.

<<S>>

Yep.......and sometimes they "collapse" right into your chest. Seatbelts are meant to restrain. They don`t always do that either.
You are partially correct on the seatbelt laws. Sure they generate revenue just as all the stupid laws on the books.
It is much more of a control factor though. The chip, chip, chip sounds are your freedom and rights being slowly but surely taken away.

[Scherf]

Here in Australia if you don't have a tinnie in your hand, dressed in a blue singlet, stubbies (shorts) that are at least one size too small and wearing thongs for at least 8 hours a day you are obviously gay.

Heheheheh true, although that doesn't apply to the beach. I suppose they don't want people leaving pull tops & bottles lying around, or mixing alcohol with testosterone and "bringing back the biff", or indeed impairing their powers of judgement then plunging into the surf and trying to drown their stupid selves, at which point the lifesavers have to put themselves at risk to go fish them out...

Anyway, true story, fellow I worked with in Germany, we'll call him Helmut Hansundfranz, spent a year on exchange in a U.S. university. Helmut and his fellow teutons arrived in late August, and it being a sunny Sunday afternoon, gathered on the balcony of the house they were renting to do the natural thing, have a beer. Well, of course, being on the balcony, Helmut and his friends are visible from the roadway.

Police cruiser rolls up. Now, the city fathers had, being the guardians of local morality, seen fit to implement a "zero tolerance" policy. Even if the cop had wanted just to give Helmut and his mates a friendly warning, he couldn't - he had no choice in the matter.

So, Helmut Hansundfranz and his friends are arrested and taken down to the station for processing.

Now, this being a university town, the city fathers and the uni admin have a policy of close cooperation on matters of substance abuse, it being a zero-tolerance environment and all. So, the incident is reported to the uni, and Helmut Hansundfranz is obliged to go along to for, shall we say, counselling.

Clearly, Helmut still really doesn't see the harm in having a beer, but is obliged to play along. Part of the counselling process is a series of health tests to determine the extent of the issue. No test, no tick from the counsellors. No tick from the counsellors, no continued presence on the student rolls. No presence on student rolls, no graduate back home. ("Mr. Blutarski ...  all courses incomplete.") So, off he goes for his tests.

As it happens, Helmut had some kind of infection when he were but a lad, which caused him some harm and continues to affect his liver function. So, naturally, his tests come back, showing elevated indicators re: his liver.

"Mr. Hansundfranz, you have an alcohol problem."

"No, no I don't."

"Mr. Hansundfranz, acceptance is the first step to recovery."

"Look, I don't haff a problem viz alcohol."

"Mr. Hansundfranz, your tests show that you do."

"No I don't. I vill get you my medical records from Ger-many to prove it."

"Mr. Hansundfranz, this is the United States of America. We have the greatest health system in the world. We are not interested in your records from Germany."

"I'm not an alcoholic."

"Mr. Hansundfranz, why won't you admit your problem?"

And so on round and round in a Kafka-esque tragi-comedy in which the only way to end the issue was to admit to an illness he didn't have.

Managed to graduate though.

[Rollins]

I understand the letter of the law, but there's some gray area and I can't see being arrested for drinking a beer in the garage.  Hell, maybe it's just that I'm used to seeing it everywhere out here.  Being cited for drinking in public out here is a good punchline.



...and in regard to our National Anthem,

those are just words to a song somebody tries to sing before sports events.

Speak for yourself.