Via this post over at InstaPundit I found this article about recent activities of the Fairfax County Police Department. Note: the Fairfax County police generally seem very fair and reasonable, and have certainly been helpful when my friends have needed to call them (I live in Arlington County, just on the border of Fairfax County).
Apparently, the police are arresting people for being drunk--in a bar. From the article:
Fairfax County Police are targeting Reston and Herndon area bar-restaurant patrons suspected of having one too many drinks...
According to Virginia statutes and the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC), any place with a liquor license is considered a "public place." 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.
That seems rather, well, wrong. I suppose it is a technicality that a bar is considered a public place, but as InstaPundit noted, the next step is "warrantless visits to your home to see if you're drunk, since -- after all -- you might get in your car and drive somewhere before you sober up." Get people when they get into their car and confirm that they are a danger to others, perhaps, but inside a bar that is only a "public place" because of government regulation of alcohol? Please.
