Its a leftover from legal loopholes that don’t really exist most places anymore.
Open container laws allows DUIs for having an open alcohol container in the car, but if the label was hidden by the big paper bag police didn’t have PC.
Now lots of states have an agreement to submit to breathalyzer tests as a condition of having a driver’s license, so if they see the paper bag they’ll ask you to blow in the tube or revoke your license on the spot.
My understanding of it is that the agreement to submit to a breathalyzer is essentually a contractual agreement with the state as part of the agreement to issue the license. It makes it a civil/administrative issue, meaning you don’t have to be convicted of or even charged with a crime for them to revoke your license over refusing to blow.
It’s not about drinking and driving, it feels to me like drinking from a paper bag behind the wheel IS probable cause because it’s so culturally expected for the contents to be alcohol.
From my memory, inner city folks tend to hang out on their front steps or on a street corner, somewhere “public”, partly because until recently air conditioning was pretty expensive and we’re talking about low income groups. It’s also just a good spot to hang out imo. Anyway, because the cops were mostly white, it’s was pretty easy to roll through on a hot summer evening and nab anyone outside with an open container. People got pissed, rightly so, and somehow the agreement was reached that concealing the beverage in a paper bag gave plausible deniability, and allowed them to drink on the stoop.
Its a leftover from legal loopholes that don’t really exist most places anymore.
Open container laws allows DUIs for having an open alcohol container in the car, but if the label was hidden by the big paper bag police didn’t have PC.
Now lots of states have an agreement to submit to breathalyzer tests as a condition of having a driver’s license, so if they see the paper bag they’ll ask you to blow in the tube or revoke your license on the spot.
My understanding of it is that the agreement to submit to a breathalyzer is essentually a contractual agreement with the state as part of the agreement to issue the license. It makes it a civil/administrative issue, meaning you don’t have to be convicted of or even charged with a crime for them to revoke your license over refusing to blow.
It’s not about drinking and driving, it feels to me like drinking from a paper bag behind the wheel IS probable cause because it’s so culturally expected for the contents to be alcohol.
From my memory, inner city folks tend to hang out on their front steps or on a street corner, somewhere “public”, partly because until recently air conditioning was pretty expensive and we’re talking about low income groups. It’s also just a good spot to hang out imo. Anyway, because the cops were mostly white, it’s was pretty easy to roll through on a hot summer evening and nab anyone outside with an open container. People got pissed, rightly so, and somehow the agreement was reached that concealing the beverage in a paper bag gave plausible deniability, and allowed them to drink on the stoop.