Manhattan No Longer Arrests for Drinking Alcoholic Beverages in Public

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Manhattan No Longer Arrests for Drinking Alcoholic Beverages in Public

March 15th, 2016

Awake Goy

Drinking alcoholic beverages in public is now a low level offense in Manhattan.

Since March 7, Police in Manhattan have not arrested persons for certain low-level offenses, among them drinking alcoholic beverages in public. Other low-level offenses for which Manhattan will not prosecute include public urination, littering, and taking up more than one seat on the subway. The new policy applies only to the borough of Manhattan.

Those low-level offenses remain illegal. According to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, it’s still against the law to drink in public but the new policy makes such behavior a much less serious offense. If police deem arrest necessary for public safety reasons, they will arrest. Otherwise, a summons might be issued and perhaps a fine will result.

The policy change is intended to serve two functions. It protects residents who commit low level offenses from receiving a criminal record. It’s also intended to free law enforcement officials from using their time and resources on processing low-level violations, making them more available to focus on violent crime.

Gizmodo notes that in 2011, the New York Police Department wrote more summons – 124,498 -for drinking in public than for any other offense. The new policy is expected to reduce the court case load by about 10,000 cases.