Are beer drinkers being discriminated against?

Sometimes if I have a beer or two with a meal there
will be a law enforcement person suddenly appear on my way home. Are beer drinkers being monitored?

Nothing wrong with an officer checking you out. If you are ok , you have nothing to worry about. If you do have something to worry about then I hope they would pull you, or me, over before something could happen. I personnnally have 2 beers and stop, if I will be driving. Better safe than being a 4 wheeled killer.

Their favorite stunt around here is to appear like a bat out of hell behind you on the highway and draw right up on your bumper. Once they're satisfied that you aren't weaving around and can't be scared into running, they pull out and pass you and blow off into the distance.
Funny how they don't need to follow the rules of the road...
I don't think there's much conspiracy to it though. They do that to anyone.

Rod

How do they know you had a beer with your taco? If you are obeying the traffic laws how do they know to single you out?

No need to drink and drive. We're all guilty of doing that in the past,but we're older and much wiser now, i hope.

It is not illegal to drink and drive, only if your blood alcohol is .08 or above in my state is it illegal.

Drinking that foreign owned Budweiser beer ?

Cops seem to have an extra sense. They love to screw with people. In the old days, I had respect for them. The new ones seem to think every one is an enemy of the state. Must be all that 911 training we have been paying for.

Lets pray that they are not using the new Homeland Security spy apparatus to watch us when we eat out.

They can read your tag no. from the sky without ever leaving their desk. With new laws & "tecknalogy," you would be surprised what they can do. You just don't want to get their attention. If a local cop wants to target you, he can pull on all kinds of stuff to watch you. I know,been there, had that. If you going to do something you don't want them to see, do it on a cloudy day.

The cops north of here use to mark your headlamps while your car sit at a bar.

Last June in Oklahoma one of our guys was driving a combine down a four lane highway after dark. I was driving slowly in a pickup about a mile ahead of him trying to find a place for him to park it for the night when a smoky pulled me over. He said I had crossed the white line srveral times and asked if I had been drinking. I said no and that I was with the combine behind me. He said "oh, you're a harvester, well, have a good night" and that was all there was to it. I just figured he had enough reason to pull me over judging by the way I was driving. Jim

Back in the seventies in a small town in this area a business owner who was a strong prohibitionist, would sit in his building on saturday night and watch the bar across the street. He and the town cop were in cahoots with each other, so he would call the cop whenever someone 'suspicious' would leave the bar. I don't know how he stayed in business after the word got out about his shenanigans. Jim

(quoted from post at 21:21:42 08/17/08) No need to drink and drive. We're all guilty of doing that in the past,but we're older and much wiser now, i hope.

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I have never had an alcoholic drink in my life.
Never even so much as a taste of any alcoholic beverage.
No beer, no wine, no whiskey, no moonshine, no nothing.
I don't mind others drinking it. Just never interested me.

Pooh Bear

My shift at work ends at about midnight and has for the past 28 years. 9 mile commute from New York into Pa. I get pulled over at least 2X a year. I never drink and drive. So one night an especially cocky cop hassled me. I agreed to a breath test and field sobriety test and demanded a blood test (at the town's expense). The cop wanted to know why so I told him I had grounds to file a harrasment complaint. He called his chief in and the chief arrived an told him if he was paying attention he'd have been seeing me every night about the same time. The chief said he's seen me about the same time every night 5 or 6 times a week for years.

that happenes to me every friday night. I think one time when hees expecialy close to me and typing in my plate number I just may have to stp for that deer that just ran out of the cornfield

I'd say if you are eating at a family joint like Applebee's or some where there could be some one calling you in as you leave. I would not put it past some of the people out there these days. I do not drink in public then drive. The wife and I take turns when we go out. (Next time we go out to eat, I gotta drive and she can drink)

Also, I will not let myself get much past a good buzz in public. One I can't aford $5 shots and two it cause's alot less trouble.

If you real want to find out if some on is being a jerk, see if you can get your server to bring you some of that non alcohoic beer in a mug. Chug 6 or 8 of'm. Crawl to the truck, come to complete stops, stay 2 mph below the speed limit, have license and insurance in shirt pocket, and hold'r straight. If Barrny pulls you over, demand a blood test at the county's expense so you'll have grounds for harasment.

How many of you have been the "designated drunk" before????? I love that game.....


Dave

It ain't illegal here,,,,, unless something happens.

If you have one beer and something happens, it can get ugly quick, even more so in a dry county.

Dave

I was heading in one night about a month ago or so and a cruiser passed me. I was speeding and he still blew past me. I was only a minute away from the bar... so I saw him park in the parking lot across the street. He gets out, plain clothes and heads for the bar.
I'm sure he was working under cover... Not a bad gig if you can get it, eh? Not too many of his kin would bother to harass him on the way home...

Rod

We had a pesky town cop near here once. Got so he could not keep a windshield in his police car. Darn flying cement blocks

Ever had a slug of cough syrup, washed your mouth out with Listerine or a number of other stuff like cold remedies.
Walt

To the best of your knowledge.

If you're drinking and driving you need to be
locked up.Its a big deal friend of mine and her child was killed by a fellow that ran a red light after 'a couple beers'

There is something wrong with being checked out if the officer does not have reasonable cause. I don't drink and drive but I do not want to be stopped just to be checked out. If they have no reason to stop me they should not.

Have you noticed all the Budweiser commercials on television now have an all-American theme? Dang Germans are smart!

Looks to me like your getting a lot of advise --- but if you don't listen --- then learn the hard way --- when you Drink -- don't get more stupid and drive -- but that's not the case for almost every one who can't Think -- Discrimination has Nothing to do with what you DO in this case...

In your home with a meal is american.

Ploy used and works about following behind you is the officer will mover over to the white line and back off if you follow you are a sure stop for dui.

Yep and it will work. Show something enough on TV and it becomes fact.

Sounds more like a guilty conscience at work.

It would seem that most of the old busy bodies and 'holier than thou' types that post on here wouldn't be above monitoring your behavior, and turning you in, if you didn't meet their standards.

I used to start work at 4 am. That meant leaving the house @ 3 am. I got stopped several times over the years. Once I was going down the 2 lane to the xway, and a state trooper going the oppossite direction pulled around and pulled me over. Gave me a warning that one of 2 license plate lights on my truck were out. Saw my lunchbox, workshirt and safety glasses, asked if I was going to work. I just said yes. ( felt like saying duh? ) Another time got pulled over on the xway for 3 mph over! again the trooper looked over me and the contents of the car, let me off as a "courtesy stop". Since I don't drink and drive, it was a pia stop.

In small town America, it is difficult to not be noticed.

You have likely dined at an adjacent table with officer So&so. He noticed you had a beer. He noticed you drove home, and in what car. Now if he sees your car at an establishment that serves, he is going to check you out. Your local law enforcement is also not above checking parking lots of places that serve alcohol.


You will be checked out if you are out when the general populatuion is not. This can be problematic especially if you hold late hours due to work and drive home around closing time.

For an entire summer, I had a police escort every day on the way home from work at 2:30AM. He would pick me up at the south end of town, and follow me to the intersection, then east until 1/2 to 1 mile past city limits. He would turn around and leave me alone til the next night. Did it every night. I always wondered what it was about that small white pickup that aroused his curiosity? I wanted to pull up next to him one morning and tell him I was going to stop at 7-11 and figured I would let him know beforehand.

Are you getting profiled? Yep.

Ask any latino or african-american. Maybe they can give you some pointers.

When I lived in a college town, the neighbor lady called the FBI cause a group of Saudi college students had a kegger. Now that's profiling!



Aaron "I am old now so they don't bother me anymore." Ford

OK, I have to add a few points here about police and drunk drivers -- or those who just have a few. I myself love beer and confess to having had a few roadies now and then. One thing I have been told though is that in some states if you are just sitting on your deck having a cold beer after a long hot day you can be busted for unlawful drinking. I think that's a bunch of bull and am continuing to do so but if it's true, it's just wrong and another personal freedom destroyed.
Now, having said that,I have a son who is a veteran police officer in Indy. He knew (notice the past tense) that I would have those roadies on my way home from a stressful job that I put in 43 years of service. His only comment to me was that being busted doing that didn't result in good things very often. First, if I failed the breath analyzer test, I could be thrown into a drunk tank, have my name in the paper, have to pay a big fine and maybe become someone's girlfriend for the night. I'm not a goody two shoes but I thought that over and have since knocked off the roadies. Now a comment to those who don't like or who resent police: you have the freedom to hide behind your computer and say whatever you want just because of brave and gallant police officers who put their life on the line daily for you. If you should put your sorry a-- on the line every day and know that when you kiss your wife and child goodbye in the morning, you could be dead before evening -- so I would advise you to quit whining and give some respect to those gallant men and women who sacrifice greatly for the public, who operate under pressure, then get blamed for just doing their job. The rogues who do exist are soon discovered and fired while the brave and fair ones just go about their jobs every day with no thanks or respect. My son was shot on Christmas night a few years ago and took months to recover as he was shot in the chest. The bullet glanced off of one of the straps of his bullet-proof vest and lodged in his chest. One half inch to the left and his carotid artery would have been hit and his young life would have been over, and a grieving wife and child would have been without the most important man in their lives and his parents and siblings would have lost one of the most brave men they knew. Don't whine to me about some actual hayseed Barney Fife being a jerk with you or your drinking buddies when it takes a courageous and REAL man or woman to do his duty.

No one should be worried about being stopped for drunk driving if they are sober. We complain bitterly about losing 4-5000 young lives in two wars over 5 years we are fighting(I lost a nephew so I know what I am saying) when we kill 15000 --20000 people a year by drunk driving I have lost two friends who were killed by drunks in the past 20 years. I also know bevause I am a n alcholic and have driven stoned out of my mind. Only by the grace of God did I not kill anyone. Sober now fro 32 years I show no mercy for anyone who drive even slightly impaired. Have it happen to your family and you will quickly change you attitude. Jack

I am retired police office with 25 years of service and I'm here to tell I gotsick of being to enforce stupid/unconstitutional laws, i.e. many motor vehicle statutes (seat belts, helmets, etc), weapons, consensual intimate activities, drug possession for one's own use, etc, etc. The best advice I can give you guys is when stopped or confronted by the police which means you're already under suspicion, NEVER COOPERATE beyond what is actually required by statute (produce driver's licence, vehicle registration, etc.) Never submit performance/soberity tests other than mandated breathalyzer, never admit to anything. Probably the majority of people in jail or prison talked or cooperated themselves in there - don't make the cops job easier.


P.S. I had to modify this post because the forum censors would not let me post the correct term for "intimate activities". How stupid can one get??

Here's an idea stop consuming alcohol for a few days and here's why after talking to an ex ATF guy which is now called the Bureau of Taxation (go figure) that in 2006 they took in over $16B (that's right billion) in taxes the majority of which was alcohol tax and he said it is all about the money no doubt about it and not about DUI. I do not condon DUI in anyway shape or form my son is a cop and when he comes to my house we have several beers and he stays the night. Pressure from the feds can do a lot to change some attitudes. I usually keep a beer on my mower when mowing and sit on my front porch having a beer if the neighbors have a problem with that then I put that with owning guns I have several medals from the VN war and I feel I have the right to do that if that isn't good enough lock me up.