Cops Getting Arrested

Those numbers don't necessarily provide the full picture, argues attorney Blackburn. Even though PI is not a per se jailable offense, to fight the charge a defendant typically needs to hire a lawyer and spend the time and money required to have a court fully review the charge. And most people, he says, simply can't afford to do that and will pay a fine to conclude the matter. As a result, he says, PI and similar crimes can be a serious cash cow for municipalities. PI arrests "please the cops on the street, because they get rid of a problem," he says, "and it pleases the city because of the revenue." Since January 2010, the city has received roughly $140,000 from fines paid by defendants arrested for PI Downtown and processed through community court, where the "guideline" fine set by the judge for every PI case is $375 (in certain cases a fine can be raised or lowered depending on unique factors, or in certain circumstances the fine may be worked off with community service at a rate of $12.50/hour). An additional 4,734 PI cases were handled by the municipal court (which handles cases from the rest of the city) during the same time period, for which the city took in somewhere around $1 million. (The city's standard "early" fine is $242, the "standard" fine is $329, and the law allows for a fine up to $500.) In sum, says Blackburn, PIs are "revenue generators."

Eye of the Beholder APD Cmdr. Chris McIlvain, one of two commanders in charge of the Entertain-ment District, says he wouldn't consider public intoxication "a problem" Downtown. "I'm not sure 'problem' is the right word," he says.

He will say "in all honesty" that the two "primary instances of violation of the law" in the area are PI and disorderly conduct – that is, fighting.

"Introduce alcohol in large amounts with a large number of people, and those two generally go hand in hand. Those are always going to be top of the list; it goes with the territory." That said, he believes that the cops working Downtown use good judgment in deciding when to arrest someone for PI. "It really does fall to the officers," he says, and "we have to trust officer judgment." He says the law doesn't provide for any "stipulation" as with DWI, because different people may handle their booze