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Monday, December 26, 2016

Agents to go undercover to make public drunkenness arrests at bars, restaurants

The Delaware Office of Highway Safety and the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement (DATE) are partnering over the holidays and into the New Year in making arrests related to public drunkenness.

Agents plan to conduct undercover operations during the holiday season and into the Super Bowl period to prevent bars and restaurants from serving alcohol to visibly intoxicated patrons.

While the situation has improved over the years, too many visibly intoxicated people are known to get into their vehicles and drive to another destination.

During this operation, if agents view an intoxicated patron being served alcohol, the server, and the establishment may be charged.

The establishment may face administrative penalties as well. The crackdown will run mid-December through mid- February. A special emphasis will be placed on “Happy Hour” enforcement.

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36 comments:

lmclain said...

Coming soon to a neighborhood near you (maybe yours, although you probably think it could NEVER happen here....lol), "spot checks" of residences, just to make sure no on is endangering the public with any illegal activities, substances, or materials (guns?).
Thats EXACTLY what bar patrons want --- a cop pretending to be their friend and fellow drunk who is secretly telling his cop friends outside to arrest him.
More fines, fees, surcharges, and penalties.
If he also gets into a fight in that bar, will the cop claim "assault on a police office", even though he was deliberately trying to conceal that fact?
Answer is "yes".
I'll also wager the bar owners are REALLY thrilled with the police mingling with their customers with the intent to arrest some of them.
I'll also wager that more crime could be reduced by putting those same cops on a foot patrol in some troubled neighborhoods in the area.
But the flaw in that reasoning?
There ain't no money in busting thugs. Drunks, however, are a gold mine.
There ya have it.
Keep cheering.

Anonymous said...

Delaware, The new not the place to go to drink state.

Anonymous said...

Good luck with that one!! I guess whomever they harass will all end up with assault charges on top of the alcohol charge.

Anonymous said...

"...if agents view an intoxicated patron being served alcohol, the server, and the establishment may be charged."
As bad an idea this is, why doesn't law enforcement take it all the way?
They will charge the drinker, then the server, then the owner.
Keep going!
Charge the delivery driver for supplying the booze to the bar owner; then the distibutor for supplying it to the driver; then charge the brewery for making the stuff; then charge the farmers for supplying the hops for the brew.
Or just go to the top and arrest the head of the company, August A. Busch.
The concept of the cops in bars is well-meaning, but it sure smacks of Big Brother and just too much government interference in one's daily life.

Anonymous said...

Why don't they bust and arrest thugs, robbers, rapist and other menace to society

Anonymous said...

Gotta love delaware going down the tubes

Anonymous said...

They really need to hit ocean pines full of drunks.

Anonymous said...

7:05 PM: If you consider smoking, you are right on. Don't continue collecting taxpayer fees for anything you do NOT agree with. Smoking sucks but it is an addiction. Why continue to ask us to vote for you while WE are ADDICTED and you collect tax as a result of our "weakness"?

I quit and I no longer vote for you. Others need to learn this.

Anonymous said...

This is going too far. The only way that I could imagine this being appropriate would be to give the bar owner notification before the visit. And that is stretching it.

Because DATE is saying dui prevention, that basically means a bartender cannot serve you more than 1 drink an hour. Doesn't matter if you are driving or not. How is the bartender supposed to know?

Anonymous said...

Hey maybe you should quit preaching on a blog. Since you know so much run for office, become a cop or state trooper, do something about the system instead of blowing a bunch of uneducated hot air. Just exactly how much money are they going to make by arresting or giving a citation to somebody that is to intoxicated and could put everybody at risk by driving. Lots of thugs arrested this in bad neighborhoods avoid jail sentences by passing fines moron, but you wouldn't know bc you know nothing about law enforcement.
Giovanni Jones

Anonymous said...

Any chance any of the people that you mentioned might like to drink alcohol and hang out in a bar. Hmm, something to think about.
Giovanni Jones

Anonymous said...

Ahhh the keyboard warrior arises, ready to do battle.

Giovanni Jones

Anonymous said...

It was going on in Ocean City for years. I'm not sure if it was official policy, but teams of two officers were doing it, and keeping score. They thought it was funny. I don't think they're still doing it, but who really knows.

Anonymous said...

Dam right ocean pines has a lot of 50+ drunks, hang near the casino or whiskers wow all day drunks leave driving to thier homes in the pines!

Anonymous said...

Advertisement of police monitoring is just as good a deterrent as actually doing it. Remember here on the shore, there are many many many many many more watering holes than officers.

Just drink responsibly, stay safe and all win!

Anonymous said...

The new Gestapo

Anonymous said...

9:15. Spot on!

Anonymous said...

We used to be free

Zorro said...

OMG...are you kidding me? That would be very...very scarey locking up a real bad guy.....

Anonymous said...

All about the $$$$$$$$

Anonymous said...

I know an OC server who doesn't drink at all, but gets pulled over every night as he goes home to the Pines. He's always driving the same truck. Must be boring being a Pines cop.
As Ron White said "They threw me into public."

Anonymous said...

I hope they pull over a MADD hypocrite.

Anonymous said...

I bet you won't see a cop walking down Church St in Salisbury tonight, ,or Washington St., or the Princeton Homes neighborhood, or Booth St. Guess why, too damn dangerous for them. It is much easier to arrest Bobbie Sue who went to a Christmas party and fine the hell out of her for having 2 drinks. Cops score big points for this stuff, it's the stuff that moves them up in the dep't with the big boys and makes them feel special. It also is something they can brag about to their wives and multiple girlfriends (sorry MSP).

Anonymous said...

Cops enforce statutory laws and are tax collectors.
Not a noble profession at all.
Terrible.
The scum of the society.



FYI Commenters: Never had a ticket, never been in trouble.

Anonymous said...

just how much babysitting will people allow the gubnit to do to them?

Anonymous said...

859pm...lots of time on your hands, spending around Whiskers and the Casino.

Really???

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...
859pm...lots of time on your hands, spending around Whiskers and the Casino.

Really???

December 20, 2016 at 1:07 PM

What's it to you? Why are you ridiculing him and not focusing on the issue?

Anonymous said...

Because so many lives are taken by drunken drivers in this country it is a good thing to get them before, others cars are careened into killing in some cases whole families, or just someone trying to get home after work, their lives are cut short, and families never are the same. Why wait to pursue them as an aftermath when lives are already lost. If this saves one family then it is worth it.

Anonymous said...

Dont you just love drunken white people. Go arrest the thugs they say. Drunks kill more people in a year then thugs kill in five. Drink responsibly you will not have an issue. If you want to get hammered stay home that night and get hammered just stay off of the roads.

Anonymous said...

Please show your sources for your claim or did you just make those stats up?

lmclain said...

He made them up.

Anonymous said...

Can you help me understand how you parrarel a public place with a 4th amendment issue? I don't see the connection at all.

Anonymous said...


So they'll be walking around the bars handing out literature?

Or getting a free lunch? Since they won't be ordering adult beverages will tend to stick out while keeping servers from making tips.

Drink sparingly and responsibly so have no concerns. But the process sounds close to entrapment and definitely 'hunting over corn'.

The truly lawless will continue to drive after arrests, convictions, suspensions, revocations. That should be the first priority.

Zorro said...

ha ha...the over zealous State Poopers ....I mean State Troopers do the same thing trying to get the next promotion

Anonymous said...

Delaware is tops when it comes to law enforcement. They give LE rights to many offices and they do get the job done. Maryland should take notes.

Anonymous said...

People go to bars to get intoxicated! They drink with their friends, family or by themselves. WTF If they are causing problems inside of the bar, or are attempting to drive away while intoxicated, that's one thing. But this is just crazy. Enrollment in members only clubs will rise.