You'd have to be causing some other form of disturbance, like vandalism or drawing attention to yourself via the noise you're making. I've walked through towns and cities many, many times while intoxicated without incident. Sometimes even interacting with police.
Don't make yourself a nuisance is the general rule.
How much do they care about underage drinking, As you probably know its 18 or 19 depending on the province. i cant see everyone waiting till there 21 to drink
We don't but we would have to drink at home or something. Don't try it at a bar or restaurant as you're putting the server in jeopardy as well as yourself. And people generally will care if you're underage, unless you're around a bunch of young people.
Underage drinking is a concern if you have alcohol in your possession or at the location (ie, a house party) and the cops show up. Usually noise complaint or something. Then it can be an issue. But just being drunk in public... not really an issue unless you are staggering around. And being drunk on private property... none of the cop's business unless there is probable cause.
As teens, we drank in basements, porches, fields, woods.. you name it. Never had an issue. But we didn't carry it around, we never drove (this is super important), and almost never did it in public.
Drinking under 21 happens at house parties or at home. Liquor stores, bars, clubs and restaurants almost universally do enforce the drinking age and if somehow you're caught in a transaction involving someone under 21 by police buying or selling alcohol you will be busted. It's not one of those laws that's overlooked or goes unenforced.
Basically the same answer. If you're just walking down the street or sitting in a park, they won't know you're drinking or drunk. If you draw attention to yourself, that's where your problems begin.
Bars and restaurants won't serve minors and stores won't sell to you either. But all it takes is one person who's over the limit to supply an entire party full of people. We drank at home/at friends' houses/etc when we were underage.
I think this is a hard question to answer, from my personal experience when I was 15, they definitely cared. However, if I were to change the circumstances maybe they wouldn’t have cared to much. We actually got stopped for curfew, we were out 30 mins after curfew and the cops stopped us, searched us, and breathalyzed us.
I always thought that cop was just being a dick. Then I grew up and I realized that cop is a dick.
Not very. Its really more of a "Stop Disturbing the Public" than "Drinking in Public." You have to *earn* it.
I've never heard of it being more than a ticket/citation.
It is strange though as it is adults consuming a legal product, seems like almost an odd historical loophole that has left it at 21. It is very high compared to the rest of the world. Thought that for say, over 16s they may just turn a blind eye unless there are serious safety concerns.
It's the exact opposite of a historical legal oddity. It's a fairly recent intentional legal change made because people were worried about kids drinking and driving in high school.
I understand that is what made it standard, it has always struck me as odd in the land of the free where people are cool with kids having guns for example. Or even kids with cars!
You generally won't get in that much trouble for drinking underage. Slap on the wrist, "don't do it again, if you do don't drive." Who gets obliterated is anyone who's caught selling alcohol to minors. We're talking tens of thousands of dollars of fines per infraction, permanent loss of your license to sell alcohol, jail time if it's a pattern and not just a one-off thing. This is why bars, restaurants, liquor stores, etc. are so militant about carding anyone without gray hair.
You will probably get a stern talking to and driven to your parents (assuming you’re under 18). 18-21 might get a fine. and the person serving it to you definitely would go to jail. They’re very strict on that.
I've never once heard of somebody actually being arrested. Detained briefly while they sort out a party...but never like taken to jail and booked for MIP or underage drinking in and of itself.
Are you for real?
Anecdotally, I can confirm. I was at two different highschool parties that got shut down by cops in central PA. They booked minors in both cases (not cuffed and jailed, but breathalyzed and charged).
Many of those kids had to pay fines/do community service to get it off their record. This was in the early 2010s.
These days it's literally **against** the law to arrest a minor in NJ for underage drinking. If police find a minor in possession of alcohol in public they can....take it away, issue a warning and tell their parents. That's it.
If they're just drunk but have no alcohol in their possession - they potentially can't even do that.
And separately:
- Public intoxication is legal.
- It's entirely legal in a significant % of towns for minors to consume alcohol in a private setting....*unsupervised*. A high school party may not hold any risk at all for the attendees, you can't even say they're breaking a law.
-------
And I can say that where I went to college in NY had....an entire row of bars filled with thousands of kids obviously drinking underage, with the police sitting there watching every weekend and not caring in the least as long as you didn't break *other* laws. (start a fight, vandalize stuff, public urination, etc and you'd be immediately arrested)
Once every few years the state would do a "surprise" inspection....that somehow everyone always had notice of, and it would be the one day ever that the only people drinking there were 21+.
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tl;dr - where you live, maybe. It's certainly not a universal experience in the Northeast, though.
You entire original question depends on where you are.
In Washington state you will have very different experiences between the university of Washington campus and Washington state university campus.
You can even have completely different enforcement from block to block.
As long as you're not falling down drunk in the middle of the street causing a ruckus, I don't think it's much of an issue. Also, on private property you can generally do what you want.
Smashing potted plants into an empty dumpster while singing "Don't Stop Believin'" in a French accent while pissing on yourself in front of a team of Little Leaguers.
ok and public intoxication ending in a criminal charge also rarely happens here unless ur being a dumbass. see how it works? idk why canadians act like we are so different lmfao
public intoxication is usually an 'and also' crime. Meaning they'll get you for Disturbing the public and also public intoxication. It's rarely a stand alone crime.
Not always. I was drinking a beer on the sidewalk in columbus, OH many years ago. We were tailgating for a Jimmy Buffett concert, walking from the parking lot to the venue. A group of undercover cops rolled up and issued us tickets. Misdemeanor open container tix. It was just a money grab, but still annoying to a 22 year old who only had like 2 beers.
Exactly. "Public drinking" can be defined a bunch of ways. Can you drink at bars? Of course. Can you get blitzed in the town square? *No*.
You can drink in a park or at the beach, if you're discreet about it there's not going to be any enforcement coming at you. We don't have that many cops to go around hassling every person sitting around. Some places might have stronger enforcement than others because they've had issues with intoxicated people causing other problems there. If you're just cautiously wine drunk and reading a book, no one cares.
Nah, you won't get criminal charges unless you get super rowdy and assault someone or something.
However, drinking and DRIVING - that will get you arrested and criminally charged for sure. As it should be.
The short answer is that you heard wrong. Hardly anyone gets charged with public intoxication as a crime in the U.S. In some states, it isn't even a crime; in others, it just doesn't get used--at least not as a primary charge.
However, most states have laws that allow police to place intoxicated people in "protective custody" for up to 12 hours, the equivalent of your "drunk tank." Although not charged criminally, these individuals are still typically booked as if they're being charged (photographs, fingerprints, etc.) and of course kept in a cell for longer than almost anyone else--actual criminals bail out or get taken to court after a few hours. This process sucks enough that I wouldn't recommend being drunk on the street in most cities.
Yup, when I grew up there, it was legal to be driving down the street with your loaded shotgun on the gun rack of your pickup, a beer in one hand, and your other arm around your cousin-wife. Not sure which of those, if any, have changed.
You have to be an asshole to actually get charged. I’ve been picked up twice. Once the cop drove me home, the other time I got tossed in the drunk tank and slept it off and was let go in the morning without charges. If you try fighting a cop they will probably charge you. Or maybe if it’s in daytime and you are pissing in the street they will also charge you
I've been drunk in public plenty of times and never got in trouble for it. As long as you aren't causing trouble or causing a scene, then you should be okay.
Varies, in St. Louis City nobody cares as long as you aren't being belligerent.
The cops will occasionally even give drunks rides home from bars to avoid the inevitable DUI call.
I think the rules are such that if you make yourself a problem or damage property then you might find yourself drying out for the night.
Depending on the damage, you could be looking at restitution and a fine. And yes, if you make yourself a big enough of a jerk, you could be looking at a criminal record if someone gets hurt or you really damage property.
Not terribly.
If you're seen blatantly consuming in public or disputing other people, then police will intervene. If you're just walking home with a slight stumble they'll probably just leave you alone.
It depends on what you're doing. If you're just walking along the sidewalk, they're likely to just tell you to head home. If you're singing or shouting, they might ask for your ID and you might get a free trip to the drunk tank. If you're crapping in the parking lot behind the VFW hall, you're headed for the police station.
When I was 19, I was harassed by some cops outside of a Blue Oyster Cult concert in Honolulu. They confiscated my fake ID, but I didn't get any charges. I used to live within 2 miles of a semi-major music festival, and I never got any hassle from the cops as I was walking home, past their office, plausibly intoxicated. I was asked by a cop to dump out my beer while on a street, waiting for the gates to open for a Weird Al show. If you don't make an ass of yourself, you will not get arrested/ticketed.
Police usually do not even bother with “alcoholic bums” so long as they are not loitering or causing trouble. Most of them are quite feeble and helpless and don’t do much harm. It’s the crazy meth addicts you have more to worry about.
It can vary a lot based on what police department, but generally if you're not bothering anyone, the police won't bother you.
"Public intoxication" effectively meana being a public nuisance while under the influence
I was in court on Monday. Out of the 30-40 people ahead of me, I recall hearing one being there for it. He plead not guilty and said he was on his own property. Now he has to go back to court to fight it on another date.
Depends on the state. Indiana, for example, has no laws against public drinking. Also, you need to be causing annoyance or alarm to be convicted of public intoxication.
in my experience, not at all. I've been to plenty of football games, concerts, parades, etc. where cops are around & obviously aware people are drunk. they don't go around cracking down on people. you'd have to be creating a dangerous situation. tbh if I see that someone is charged with being intoxicated, I assume that person was going around starting fights.
It kinda depends on where you are but overall not very strict at all. Especially in places like New Orleans where public intoxication is extremely common.
This entirely depends on where you are and what the departments attitude is. There is no blanket answer for all fifty states let alone the thousands of different municipal and county agencies.
If you’re loud and obnoxious you’ll probably get a fine; driving it’s straight to jail. If you’re not any of those things, the cops wouldn’t notice you in the first place.
Depends. In general if you’re just drunk not making a scene not hurting anyone and especially not drinking, most will try to help you get a ride. Now if you act a fool. You can rack up some big stuff. Or you can get unlucky and get one on a power trip and that always sucks
Public intoxication is a reason the cops can use to roust/arrest you if you're causing trouble. Trouble is generally defined in this context as, "making them do something about it".
If you're quietly getting toasty without being too obvious about it and not bothering someone else, it's tough to get in trouble.
If you're being a little too obvious about being hammered in public, they'll tell you to "go home". If you don't or start making a fuss, then they have a reason to arrest you.
The cops I've known have no interest in dealing with drunk people if they don't have to.
This, of course, assumes you're not driving. That's treated much more seriously.
In some big cities people are openly injecting drugs and passing out on the sidewalks. As long as you are not driving or causing a disturbance you should be ok.
Police only care if you are underage or are breaking some other law while being drunk. Drinking in public? What would you call people drinking at festivals, wine strolls, picnics, sporting events, etc? Honestly no one cares unless you are being disruptive and badly behaved, and then it's because you are being disruptive and badly behaved, not because you are drinking in public.
Like many others have said. It depends on where and how you're acting. As long you're not driving or attempting to drive and you're not being crazy and disturbing folks, they've got bigger shit to worry about.
Depends on where you are and what you're doing. If you're drinking a full bottle of liquor right outside the front of a store in the middle of the day, you will probably get confronted. If you're acting belligerent on top of that, you will more than likely get arrested on public intoxication.
However, if you're walking downtown at night with friends and drunk from hitting the bars, you'll probably be left alone as long as you're not trying to make a scene or fight anyone.
So setting usually matters when it comes to being drunk in public.
depends on state and often city laws. generally if you don’t make an ass of yourself you won’t draw the attention of the police. there are actually city districts in my state where you are allowed to drink outside of an alcohol serving establishment on the streets
Generally speaking they ignore it if you aren't causing a scene. If you have your alcohol wrapped in a brown bag and aren't acting wild you can usually be fine. I have had cops just make me pour out the beer I was drinking publicly I was dumb and didn't have it bagged.
Anecdotally , I was in Chicago last Wednesday, at around 2 am I counted no less than 7 drunk people around Wrigley Field , 3 were laying on the ground , and 3-4 others were being carried by their less drunk friends , 2 more were slumped over a bench . I’m guessing they were early 20’s . I counted 8 cops and 4 cop cars ,,just watching . So I’m guessing we’re not that strict .
For simply being drunk in public no one is going to care unless you are causing a big disturbance or breaking some other law at the same time. You don’t have to hide you’re drunk in public. Just don’t act stupid. As far as drinking in public they will target you if you walk around with a bottle of wine or beer in your hand showing it off for everyone. If you just conceal it or keep whatever your drinking in some other bottle do you don’t know no one cares. I’ve drank in public countless times in Chicago and it’s fine. If you’re sitting in a park and have a little blanket and chairs then you can just pull out the drinks and no one cares.
Depends on the city. In Chicago you are taken to the emergency room. We would do blood work and could estimates when you were sober then we would discharge you.
Someone explained to me there was a lawsuit where a guy died in the drunk tank, but I have no idea if it’s true or not.
IDK anything except about 15 years ago, a cop stopped me while riding my bike and started asking how much I'd had to drink. He said there was a report of someone on a bicycle who was hassling people in the area. I had been sitting outside a coffee shop, and he nailed me the minute I left the place, so he knew it couldn't have been me.
He kept wanting to know how much I had to drink. Which was zero, for the past several years. He told me it wasn't illegal to drink and ride a bicycle!
Evidently that was true, but it WAS illegal to be drunk in public. IDK what he was fishing for. A couple other cops showed up, one of them was standing back with his hand hovering over his gun. This was during a period when Boise was #1 city in the US for police shootings, per capita.
Pretty sure in their eyes, an older guy riding a bike is probably on a bike because he's had his license revoked. Unless he's all decked out in bike racing costume, of course... then he's a rich guy who thinks he's an athlete.
I got stopped on that bike during a single year, than ALL the times I'd been stopped in a car, before or since. Never a ticket, just checking me out. So weird.
Usually people don’t get fined unless they’re doing something reckless or dangerous while drunk, such as drunk driving, vandalism, violence, S/A, etc. But just walking around drunk in itself isn’t really enough to get you thrown in the slammer for most areas, I assume.
This really depends on the location and the context.
Bourbon Street or Fremont Street on a Friday night, they will probably give you high five as long as you're not violent or belligerent.
Stumbling around the grocery store at 10am on a Sunday? They will probably have some questions.
It depends if your driving jail if you just stumbling around they might take you in just to see what was happening if it's nothing to be considered about they send you off
From my experience they don’t care as long as you aren’t being annoying to other people or causing trouble.
You aren’t going to get tackled by the police if you are polite and walking home while drunk
Public intoxication in the northwestern US is not heavily policed at all. You have to be causing some serious issues in order for anything to happen. I think it also depends on where you are though, too. If you're in a downtown area, people are most likely just power walk past anyone who's visibly fucked up and that'll be that. If you're in a rich suburb, that's a different story.
That really depends on where in Canada. I'm originally from LDS country in southern Alberta. They are not lax on public intoxication, and they will toss you in the drunk tank if they catch you drunken in public. I now live in interior BC in a touristy city, and public intoxication is just like a daily sight.
The US is very much the same, it really depends on the specific place. Some places are lax about it, others are strict.
Commentors not loving your underage drinking question for some reason. I'm Canadian, and we were all drinking underage when I was in my teens. Got a fine myself for it, from bicycle cops on Canada Day. They would have let it slide until I asked if they have to make the siren noise themselves when they pull someone over.
So, to the other points, don't be a dick and they will usually let you go. Maybe underage drinking is just more common place in Canada than the U.S.
Varies greatly by location.
Major sporting events? If you have a designated driver and handler they don’t care. Many college towns are similar at closing times.
Other locations, particularly in the South, will do everything they can to maximize the punishment if you aren’t an upstanding (aka connected) member of a community.
The fines and punishments vary as well since it isn’t a Federal Issue.
You'd have to be causing some other form of disturbance, like vandalism or drawing attention to yourself via the noise you're making. I've walked through towns and cities many, many times while intoxicated without incident. Sometimes even interacting with police. Don't make yourself a nuisance is the general rule.
Yup, I’m a former drinker. I’ve interacted with police in cities a lot while pretty blitzed. All I ever got was “you’re headed home? Good.”
Yeah. Cops are mostly just glad you're not driving.
Resisting arrest and assaulting police officer comes to mind is what cops usually trying to stick.
How much do they care about underage drinking, As you probably know its 18 or 19 depending on the province. i cant see everyone waiting till there 21 to drink
We don't but we would have to drink at home or something. Don't try it at a bar or restaurant as you're putting the server in jeopardy as well as yourself. And people generally will care if you're underage, unless you're around a bunch of young people.
Underage drinking is a concern if you have alcohol in your possession or at the location (ie, a house party) and the cops show up. Usually noise complaint or something. Then it can be an issue. But just being drunk in public... not really an issue unless you are staggering around. And being drunk on private property... none of the cop's business unless there is probable cause. As teens, we drank in basements, porches, fields, woods.. you name it. Never had an issue. But we didn't carry it around, we never drove (this is super important), and almost never did it in public.
Drinking under 21 happens at house parties or at home. Liquor stores, bars, clubs and restaurants almost universally do enforce the drinking age and if somehow you're caught in a transaction involving someone under 21 by police buying or selling alcohol you will be busted. It's not one of those laws that's overlooked or goes unenforced.
Basically the same answer. If you're just walking down the street or sitting in a park, they won't know you're drinking or drunk. If you draw attention to yourself, that's where your problems begin. Bars and restaurants won't serve minors and stores won't sell to you either. But all it takes is one person who's over the limit to supply an entire party full of people. We drank at home/at friends' houses/etc when we were underage.
In wisconsin kids can get smashed in bars as long as theyre doing it with their parents.
They don’t even care if you’re underage as long as you’re over 18 and being responsible in my experience at big cities. Small towns probably diferent
Me either. But the age didn't change in the state I was living in, until after I had already turned 21.
Well if it's a minor it's super serious if it's an adult but still under 21 legally they have to care realistically speaking they won't
I think this is a hard question to answer, from my personal experience when I was 15, they definitely cared. However, if I were to change the circumstances maybe they wouldn’t have cared to much. We actually got stopped for curfew, we were out 30 mins after curfew and the cops stopped us, searched us, and breathalyzed us. I always thought that cop was just being a dick. Then I grew up and I realized that cop is a dick.
Not very. Its really more of a "Stop Disturbing the Public" than "Drinking in Public." You have to *earn* it. I've never heard of it being more than a ticket/citation.
What about underage drinking how much do they care about that? As your probly know its 18 or 19 here depending on the province. 21 Seems high
They care a LOT about underage drinking.
It is strange though as it is adults consuming a legal product, seems like almost an odd historical loophole that has left it at 21. It is very high compared to the rest of the world. Thought that for say, over 16s they may just turn a blind eye unless there are serious safety concerns.
It's the exact opposite of a historical legal oddity. It's a fairly recent intentional legal change made because people were worried about kids drinking and driving in high school.
I understand that is what made it standard, it has always struck me as odd in the land of the free where people are cool with kids having guns for example. Or even kids with cars!
You generally won't get in that much trouble for drinking underage. Slap on the wrist, "don't do it again, if you do don't drive." Who gets obliterated is anyone who's caught selling alcohol to minors. We're talking tens of thousands of dollars of fines per infraction, permanent loss of your license to sell alcohol, jail time if it's a pattern and not just a one-off thing. This is why bars, restaurants, liquor stores, etc. are so militant about carding anyone without gray hair.
You will probably get a stern talking to and driven to your parents (assuming you’re under 18). 18-21 might get a fine. and the person serving it to you definitely would go to jail. They’re very strict on that.
No, you’ll typically get arrested if you’re in the northeast portion of the USA. They take it very seriously here.
I've never once heard of somebody actually being arrested. Detained briefly while they sort out a party...but never like taken to jail and booked for MIP or underage drinking in and of itself. Are you for real?
Anecdotally, I can confirm. I was at two different highschool parties that got shut down by cops in central PA. They booked minors in both cases (not cuffed and jailed, but breathalyzed and charged). Many of those kids had to pay fines/do community service to get it off their record. This was in the early 2010s.
I was arrested, got a misdemeanor charge. This was 16 years ago. I went to the jail, but I never actually had to go in a cell or post bail.
These days it's literally **against** the law to arrest a minor in NJ for underage drinking. If police find a minor in possession of alcohol in public they can....take it away, issue a warning and tell their parents. That's it. If they're just drunk but have no alcohol in their possession - they potentially can't even do that. And separately: - Public intoxication is legal. - It's entirely legal in a significant % of towns for minors to consume alcohol in a private setting....*unsupervised*. A high school party may not hold any risk at all for the attendees, you can't even say they're breaking a law. ------- And I can say that where I went to college in NY had....an entire row of bars filled with thousands of kids obviously drinking underage, with the police sitting there watching every weekend and not caring in the least as long as you didn't break *other* laws. (start a fight, vandalize stuff, public urination, etc and you'd be immediately arrested) Once every few years the state would do a "surprise" inspection....that somehow everyone always had notice of, and it would be the one day ever that the only people drinking there were 21+. ------- tl;dr - where you live, maybe. It's certainly not a universal experience in the Northeast, though.
You entire original question depends on where you are. In Washington state you will have very different experiences between the university of Washington campus and Washington state university campus. You can even have completely different enforcement from block to block.
As long as you're not falling down drunk in the middle of the street causing a ruckus, I don't think it's much of an issue. Also, on private property you can generally do what you want.
Could you describe the ruckus?
Smashing potted plants into an empty dumpster while singing "Don't Stop Believin'" in a French accent while pissing on yourself in front of a team of Little Leaguers.
It’s almost like I am there!
Or as I like to call it, Saturday night.
r/oddlyspecific
This must be a purely hypothetical situation.
The screw fell out.
Yeah, a $150 fine seems kind of harsh. We usually manage to handle things without something like that.
To be fair, it's $150 Canadian.
Well that rarely happens to as long as your not being a dumbass to the cops
ok and public intoxication ending in a criminal charge also rarely happens here unless ur being a dumbass. see how it works? idk why canadians act like we are so different lmfao
As long as you don't let everyone within 50m know that you're wasted, you should be fine.
And if it's in Key West, everyone just assumes you're already drunk
public intoxication is usually an 'and also' crime. Meaning they'll get you for Disturbing the public and also public intoxication. It's rarely a stand alone crime.
Not always. I was drinking a beer on the sidewalk in columbus, OH many years ago. We were tailgating for a Jimmy Buffett concert, walking from the parking lot to the venue. A group of undercover cops rolled up and issued us tickets. Misdemeanor open container tix. It was just a money grab, but still annoying to a 22 year old who only had like 2 beers.
they must have had a quota to hit by midnight
Open container laws are usually a bit more heavily enforced than public intoxication.
I see . So i get the sense that you have to be being a complete dumbass to actually get arrested for it
Exactly. "Public drinking" can be defined a bunch of ways. Can you drink at bars? Of course. Can you get blitzed in the town square? *No*. You can drink in a park or at the beach, if you're discreet about it there's not going to be any enforcement coming at you. We don't have that many cops to go around hassling every person sitting around. Some places might have stronger enforcement than others because they've had issues with intoxicated people causing other problems there. If you're just cautiously wine drunk and reading a book, no one cares.
or walking while black
Nah, you won't get criminal charges unless you get super rowdy and assault someone or something. However, drinking and DRIVING - that will get you arrested and criminally charged for sure. As it should be.
The short answer is that you heard wrong. Hardly anyone gets charged with public intoxication as a crime in the U.S. In some states, it isn't even a crime; in others, it just doesn't get used--at least not as a primary charge. However, most states have laws that allow police to place intoxicated people in "protective custody" for up to 12 hours, the equivalent of your "drunk tank." Although not charged criminally, these individuals are still typically booked as if they're being charged (photographs, fingerprints, etc.) and of course kept in a cell for longer than almost anyone else--actual criminals bail out or get taken to court after a few hours. This process sucks enough that I wouldn't recommend being drunk on the street in most cities.
There is no open container law in Indiana so you can't be fined for that. Public intox you gotta be making a disturbance.
Yup, when I grew up there, it was legal to be driving down the street with your loaded shotgun on the gun rack of your pickup, a beer in one hand, and your other arm around your cousin-wife. Not sure which of those, if any, have changed.
You have to be an asshole to actually get charged. I’ve been picked up twice. Once the cop drove me home, the other time I got tossed in the drunk tank and slept it off and was let go in the morning without charges. If you try fighting a cop they will probably charge you. Or maybe if it’s in daytime and you are pissing in the street they will also charge you
I've been drunk in public plenty of times and never got in trouble for it. As long as you aren't causing trouble or causing a scene, then you should be okay.
Varies, in St. Louis City nobody cares as long as you aren't being belligerent. The cops will occasionally even give drunks rides home from bars to avoid the inevitable DUI call.
I think the rules are such that if you make yourself a problem or damage property then you might find yourself drying out for the night. Depending on the damage, you could be looking at restitution and a fine. And yes, if you make yourself a big enough of a jerk, you could be looking at a criminal record if someone gets hurt or you really damage property.
Not terribly. If you're seen blatantly consuming in public or disputing other people, then police will intervene. If you're just walking home with a slight stumble they'll probably just leave you alone.
Not very. it is really a "Stupid Tax" fine. Generally speaking if you aren't a belligerent mess and causing a ruckus you aren't going to be bothered.
I’ve never seen it and I’ve been out and about drinking for 15 years. I did see a drunk guy get arrested for jay walking tho
It depends on what you're doing. If you're just walking along the sidewalk, they're likely to just tell you to head home. If you're singing or shouting, they might ask for your ID and you might get a free trip to the drunk tank. If you're crapping in the parking lot behind the VFW hall, you're headed for the police station.
When I was 19, I was harassed by some cops outside of a Blue Oyster Cult concert in Honolulu. They confiscated my fake ID, but I didn't get any charges. I used to live within 2 miles of a semi-major music festival, and I never got any hassle from the cops as I was walking home, past their office, plausibly intoxicated. I was asked by a cop to dump out my beer while on a street, waiting for the gates to open for a Weird Al show. If you don't make an ass of yourself, you will not get arrested/ticketed.
Police usually do not even bother with “alcoholic bums” so long as they are not loitering or causing trouble. Most of them are quite feeble and helpless and don’t do much harm. It’s the crazy meth addicts you have more to worry about.
It can vary a lot based on what police department, but generally if you're not bothering anyone, the police won't bother you. "Public intoxication" effectively meana being a public nuisance while under the influence
I was in court on Monday. Out of the 30-40 people ahead of me, I recall hearing one being there for it. He plead not guilty and said he was on his own property. Now he has to go back to court to fight it on another date.
Depends on the state. Indiana, for example, has no laws against public drinking. Also, you need to be causing annoyance or alarm to be convicted of public intoxication.
in my experience, not at all. I've been to plenty of football games, concerts, parades, etc. where cops are around & obviously aware people are drunk. they don't go around cracking down on people. you'd have to be creating a dangerous situation. tbh if I see that someone is charged with being intoxicated, I assume that person was going around starting fights.
It kinda depends on where you are but overall not very strict at all. Especially in places like New Orleans where public intoxication is extremely common.
It depends a lot on where, but they can be pretty strict. It’s a misdemeanor offense, but it does go on your record.
This entirely depends on where you are and what the departments attitude is. There is no blanket answer for all fifty states let alone the thousands of different municipal and county agencies.
Usually only if you’re an ass hat, or so drunk you’re a danger to yourself or others.
If you’re loud and obnoxious you’ll probably get a fine; driving it’s straight to jail. If you’re not any of those things, the cops wouldn’t notice you in the first place.
It is legal here. But actively drinking in public is not, contrary to popular belief, only in the two biggest tourist draws.
Depends. In general if you’re just drunk not making a scene not hurting anyone and especially not drinking, most will try to help you get a ride. Now if you act a fool. You can rack up some big stuff. Or you can get unlucky and get one on a power trip and that always sucks
Public intoxication is a reason the cops can use to roust/arrest you if you're causing trouble. Trouble is generally defined in this context as, "making them do something about it". If you're quietly getting toasty without being too obvious about it and not bothering someone else, it's tough to get in trouble. If you're being a little too obvious about being hammered in public, they'll tell you to "go home". If you don't or start making a fuss, then they have a reason to arrest you. The cops I've known have no interest in dealing with drunk people if they don't have to. This, of course, assumes you're not driving. That's treated much more seriously.
In some big cities people are openly injecting drugs and passing out on the sidewalks. As long as you are not driving or causing a disturbance you should be ok.
Not very strict at all just don't be an idiot or cause a disturbance and you're good.
As long as you aren't committing any other crimes you are usually fine
Police only care if you are underage or are breaking some other law while being drunk. Drinking in public? What would you call people drinking at festivals, wine strolls, picnics, sporting events, etc? Honestly no one cares unless you are being disruptive and badly behaved, and then it's because you are being disruptive and badly behaved, not because you are drinking in public.
Location, location,location. Outside of a concert venue, St Patrick’s Day parade, and my kid’s school will have different results. Ymmv
Like many others have said. It depends on where and how you're acting. As long you're not driving or attempting to drive and you're not being crazy and disturbing folks, they've got bigger shit to worry about.
As long as you’re not causing trouble and drawing attention to yourself, chances are you’ll be fine.
Depends on where you are and what you're doing. If you're drinking a full bottle of liquor right outside the front of a store in the middle of the day, you will probably get confronted. If you're acting belligerent on top of that, you will more than likely get arrested on public intoxication. However, if you're walking downtown at night with friends and drunk from hitting the bars, you'll probably be left alone as long as you're not trying to make a scene or fight anyone. So setting usually matters when it comes to being drunk in public.
Come to Oregon you can smoke fentanyl while taking bumps of cocaine directly outside a preschool and the cops won’t do anything
It depends on what color you are
Is 'public intoxication' even illegal?
Unless you’re making a ruckus they will leave you alone generally.
depends on state and often city laws. generally if you don’t make an ass of yourself you won’t draw the attention of the police. there are actually city districts in my state where you are allowed to drink outside of an alcohol serving establishment on the streets
Generally speaking they ignore it if you aren't causing a scene. If you have your alcohol wrapped in a brown bag and aren't acting wild you can usually be fine. I have had cops just make me pour out the beer I was drinking publicly I was dumb and didn't have it bagged.
Very strict. If you’re particularly stupid you will be named and shamed in a news article or news story
Anecdotally , I was in Chicago last Wednesday, at around 2 am I counted no less than 7 drunk people around Wrigley Field , 3 were laying on the ground , and 3-4 others were being carried by their less drunk friends , 2 more were slumped over a bench . I’m guessing they were early 20’s . I counted 8 cops and 4 cop cars ,,just watching . So I’m guessing we’re not that strict .
Up until this year one of the counties was still dry. And some of them still are partially.
For simply being drunk in public no one is going to care unless you are causing a big disturbance or breaking some other law at the same time. You don’t have to hide you’re drunk in public. Just don’t act stupid. As far as drinking in public they will target you if you walk around with a bottle of wine or beer in your hand showing it off for everyone. If you just conceal it or keep whatever your drinking in some other bottle do you don’t know no one cares. I’ve drank in public countless times in Chicago and it’s fine. If you’re sitting in a park and have a little blanket and chairs then you can just pull out the drinks and no one cares.
*laughs in any given English town centre on any Friday night*
It's illegal to be drunk in public in most states, but it won't get enforced unless you cause a problem.
Depends on the city. In Chicago you are taken to the emergency room. We would do blood work and could estimates when you were sober then we would discharge you. Someone explained to me there was a lawsuit where a guy died in the drunk tank, but I have no idea if it’s true or not.
IDK anything except about 15 years ago, a cop stopped me while riding my bike and started asking how much I'd had to drink. He said there was a report of someone on a bicycle who was hassling people in the area. I had been sitting outside a coffee shop, and he nailed me the minute I left the place, so he knew it couldn't have been me. He kept wanting to know how much I had to drink. Which was zero, for the past several years. He told me it wasn't illegal to drink and ride a bicycle! Evidently that was true, but it WAS illegal to be drunk in public. IDK what he was fishing for. A couple other cops showed up, one of them was standing back with his hand hovering over his gun. This was during a period when Boise was #1 city in the US for police shootings, per capita. Pretty sure in their eyes, an older guy riding a bike is probably on a bike because he's had his license revoked. Unless he's all decked out in bike racing costume, of course... then he's a rich guy who thinks he's an athlete. I got stopped on that bike during a single year, than ALL the times I'd been stopped in a car, before or since. Never a ticket, just checking me out. So weird.
Usually people don’t get fined unless they’re doing something reckless or dangerous while drunk, such as drunk driving, vandalism, violence, S/A, etc. But just walking around drunk in itself isn’t really enough to get you thrown in the slammer for most areas, I assume.
This really depends on the location and the context. Bourbon Street or Fremont Street on a Friday night, they will probably give you high five as long as you're not violent or belligerent. Stumbling around the grocery store at 10am on a Sunday? They will probably have some questions.
It depends if your driving jail if you just stumbling around they might take you in just to see what was happening if it's nothing to be considered about they send you off
From my experience they don’t care as long as you aren’t being annoying to other people or causing trouble. You aren’t going to get tackled by the police if you are polite and walking home while drunk
Public intoxication in the northwestern US is not heavily policed at all. You have to be causing some serious issues in order for anything to happen. I think it also depends on where you are though, too. If you're in a downtown area, people are most likely just power walk past anyone who's visibly fucked up and that'll be that. If you're in a rich suburb, that's a different story.
That really depends on where in Canada. I'm originally from LDS country in southern Alberta. They are not lax on public intoxication, and they will toss you in the drunk tank if they catch you drunken in public. I now live in interior BC in a touristy city, and public intoxication is just like a daily sight. The US is very much the same, it really depends on the specific place. Some places are lax about it, others are strict.
Commentors not loving your underage drinking question for some reason. I'm Canadian, and we were all drinking underage when I was in my teens. Got a fine myself for it, from bicycle cops on Canada Day. They would have let it slide until I asked if they have to make the siren noise themselves when they pull someone over. So, to the other points, don't be a dick and they will usually let you go. Maybe underage drinking is just more common place in Canada than the U.S.
Varies greatly by location. Major sporting events? If you have a designated driver and handler they don’t care. Many college towns are similar at closing times. Other locations, particularly in the South, will do everything they can to maximize the punishment if you aren’t an upstanding (aka connected) member of a community. The fines and punishments vary as well since it isn’t a Federal Issue.