[Defiant]

More encroachment by the police state.

[beckett]

Instapundit remarked on this outrageous violation of the Fourth Amendment, and provided this link to the Fairfax Police, for anyone who wants to complain about the practice.

[Fiddlstix]

Bump

[ladylib]

Guess you'd be safer in Fairfax County if you just stayed home and didn't patronize bars and restaurants that served liquor.

It's up to bar and restaurant owners to have their government officials call these nazis off. Bar and restaurant owners still pay taxes don't they? They still employ people right -- waitresses, waiters, cooks, busboys, bar help? If I owned a bar and the cops harassed my customers, I'd close it down and move to a more customer-friendly environment.

In these tough economic times, you can't afford to piss businesses off and the fines the county gets aren't going to cover the loss of a business.

[sharktrager]

Ah yes, another brilliant headline.

Sounds like they are arresting anyone in the bar who's sober.

[dagnabbit]

[Ramius]

Hey Tacis... get your jackboots on. You ought to love this one. Maybe they were smoking while they were drinking.

[swarthyguy]

Talibanesque....

Revenue shortfalls must be getting critical. Nice gig for a cop -- go to a bar undercover and id drunks....

This new puritanism certainly can make some parts scary places.

[T. Jefferson]

This story is about kickbacks not being paid to cops.

Off duty cops are some of the heaviest drinkers I've met...and they all drive when drinking...and I know a bunch. We had an off duty cop in town drive straight into a toll booth killing himself, and nearly killing others. His BAC was .18 , and the headlines spoke of a tragedy. If we did that, we'd have been potential murderers, attorneys would be suing a restaurant, new laws would be written, etc.

[razorback-bert]

I could name a city(X42's old stomping grounds) where the cops use to stop out of towners (and locals) walking back to the largest hotel from a popular watering spot, cite them for PI and collect the fine on the spot.


Houston's vice squad used similiar raids to shake down small local bars in the 1980s.

[supercat]

Accordingly, police are allowed free access to such places, and, should they find any customer over the legal alcohol limit of .08 or suspect a customer of being intoxicated while still being served or present in an establishment, police can write that person a ticket for public intoxication.

I wonder if MADD will come out against this practice, on the grounds that it encourages moderately intoxicated (0.08%-0.14%) people to drive home rather than sitting around bars and risking getting raided.

[CRICKETS CHIRPING] Nah, that would require them to be merely against drunk driving rather than against drinking and against driving.

[supercat]

How many drinks does it take for an 75lb woman to reach 0.08% BAC? My impression is that a single strong drink (12oz @ 6% or 6oz @ 12%) will suffice. Suggesting that such a woman should not drive for an hour after having such a drink would be reasonable; busting such a woman for having such a drink just before the police arrive is obscene.

[putupon]

How come it's the "LIBERAL" areas of the Commonwealth that seem to use the most outrageous police tactics? And why with all the illegal aliens, many from from terrorist supporting nations, the govt. feels it's resources sending in swat teams to sports bars fishing for drunks, during the holidays no less?

JACK BOOTED GOVERNMENT THUGS BUMP

[Lion's Cub]

We discussed this on another thread the other day.

For those who watch Fox, John Gibson said last night that he'd be taking this up on his show tonight.

[smoking camels]

I do not use alchohol. I despise the overuse of it.

BUT!!!

This deal the LEOs are pulling is a bad thing.

BUT!!!!!!

The REALLY scarry part is reading the LEOs comments. Especially when he says they don't need to give up their game plan... meaning that they can just come in and feel no need to tell the owner what they will be doing other than "We are enforcing the law"... THAT is SCARY!!!!!