WESTMINSTER : New Law Targets Public Drinking
The City Council has passed an ordinance prohibiting drinking alcohol in public, augmenting a state law that has been difficult to enforce, police say.
The new law will be a law-enforcement tool to deter groups from drinking in parking lots and near apartment houses by allowing police to arrest such people, even if they’re not drunk.
Police Capt. John Savage said the state law applies only to those who are drunk, “and oftentimes that’s too late.”
“They’re out of control by that time,” he said. “You have fights, sometimes with severe injuries. It will give us a tool to help us move in before we have serious disturbance.”
Violation of the ordinance, which goes into effect in December, is a misdemeanor.
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