Can the police wait outside of a bar?

Question

Can the police park and wait in a bar parking lot, waiting for people to stagger out and appear drunk, and pull them over for suspicion of DUI?

Answer 1

Yes in Ca there known for that & a few blocks away they'll put  check point.

Answer 2

to me if an person comes out of the bar staggering gets in the car to drive and makes it to the road its free game, but as long as he or she is on private property then they should be ok, but as soon as the front tire hits main road its on plain an simple, i don't think its fair for them to wait by the door but across say at the subway and watch thats ok, and if im mistaking anything giving the effects of being under the influece of an controlled or non controlled substance(e.g.the person staggering) is probable cause. point is if you don't want a dui take a friend that can be a designated driver. i feel like a parking lot is private property because its owned by the bar so it would be the same as u drinking an driving around in your yard. i've always been told police have to be called or invitated onto  private property. so idk eighter way u catch a buzz and drive u deserve a ticket, im an emt and it ***** peoples lives up when u drink and drive and kill somebodys son or daughter. i've seen whole familys get took out from dumbshits so yea u should be eligible for a pull over and a ticket and a night in jail and a liesence suspencion

Answer 3

Yes. Why wouldn't they be able to? Although it'd be a little obvious.

Craig- Maybe the laws differ where you worked.

Answer 4

no, DUI=Driving Under the Influence.  And as shown they are not driving.  But, they may be able to be arrested for being drunk in public or disorderly conduct

Answer 5

Here in NC, entrapment is a grey area.  They can say that there will be a license check on the freeway signs 2 miles ahead, so all of the people who are driving illegaly will get off the interstate at the closest exit.......where the real license check is.  I know it is stupid.

They are allowed to do that here in NC.  Also, a bar is a PVA (public vehicular area) and you can get pulled over in the parking lot if they have probable cause.  Probable cause may be that you just came out of a bar, a broken tail light, or other objective moving violations.  

If you show no signs of driving unsafely/erratically, then they must follow you for 2 miles before they are legally allowed to pull you over.  If it does happen to you, get a lawyer.  They know more about it than you do.

Answer 6

Nothing prohibits me from parking my patrol car near a bar.  I can monitor traffic from just about anywhere.  If it is private property the owner can ask me to move and I would need to move then unless I am on some legitimate Police business at the time.  So yes an Officer can wait outside a bar.

If you were drunk and leaving a bar and saw a Officer sitting across the street would you drive off?

Holy Cats.  I just read the misguided comments from the poster above about NC Law.  There is no requirement to follow anyone for 2 miles before stopping them-that would be asinine.  Also, reasonable suspicion is the requirement for a traffic stop anywhere in the US (including NC) and simply leaving a bar does not give an Officer the right to stop you.  They must have some reasonable suspicion to believe that a law has been broken, is being broken, or is about to be broken to make a traffic stop.  Furthermore entrapment is coaxing someone into doing something (i.e. breaking the law) that they normally wouldn't do.  It is not a gray area here or anywhere-it either is or isn't entrapment.

Answer 7

outside, inside anywhere we want, we are the police.

Answer 8

I disagree... I was in the DUI squad of my city's police dept for 6 years. We were provided a copy of a case law that prohibits police from waiting outside of bars for DUI drivers to pull out. The actual case escapes me. It still remains in our general orders to this day that waiting outside of bars for DUI drivers is prohibited.

Answer 9

Sure they do. Usually they wait a little round the corner. But recently in my neighborhood I guess they couldn't wait for the guy to leave the parking lot (private property) so the case was thrown out!

Answer 10

The bar parking is a little close.  I used to wait across the street, or down the block.  In direct answer to your question, yes.

Answer 11

I mean seriously...shouldn't a person have a fair chance to drive drunk and endanger innocent lives?

Answer 12

NATURALLY, YES they can wait in a bar parking lot, whether for the people to stage a rumble of some sort or just mingle with the people outside the bar for security purposes, their duty is to SERVE and PROTECT isn't it in their logo.

THIS IS ONE WAY OF serving the public of peaceful and easy feeling that they are being watch by the police officers of the land, those who intent to create trouble will be apprehended and sent to jail. SO IF YOU ARE A LAW ABIDING CITIZEN I think you do not have to worry about it but if you are ONE OF THOSE WHO CREATE TROUBLE then you should be warn and be scared.

Answer 13

Absolutley, remember, their police. They can do w.e they want. Even if it was illegal they can say they were on a suspicion of a fight, and they just so happened to see a car swirving.

Think about this again, why would'nt a cop want to potentially save lives?

and again, even if this was illegal, they can just follow you... and pull you over a mile away, if you happen to make it.. then say they picked you up down the street and it was no predijuce to tha bar. Cops are usually outside at bars anyway becuase of fights and such.

Answer 14

We generally wait across the street or just down the street. It upsets the bar owners and they always complain, but luckily our pro-police city council generally tells them to eat it.

Answer 15

Yes. Why not?

Answer 16

Yes, however, based on a case in the past, an officer cannot use the fact that you came from a car as reasonable suspicion or probable cause to stop your car.

Answer 17

Where I live, no they can't, becuase it would be considered entrapment.  They can however park nearby and pull people over once they are on the actual street and have committed a driving offense. But they can not "watch" who leaves the bar and pull them over purely for leaving the bar parking lot.  That isn't probable cause, they need to make a mistake driving first.

Answer 18

It's unethical.  If you see someone "staggering" to a car and "fumbling" with keys, why would I let them get in and drive off just so I could arrest them.  At that point the ethical thing to do is confront them and suggest to them that they not drive.  If at that point they choose to do so, it is a fair arrest.  Of course, pulling stops near bar ares is perfectly fine, but it can't be just because they are coming out of a bar.

Answer 19

Let's think about this a bit; let's assume that a drunk staggers out of a bar, gets in car and speeds off and then crashes head-on into a car with a husband, and wife and two kids, and let's assume everyone but the drunk was killed.  Tell me how you feel about your question now.  What if it was your family that was killed?

Answer 20

Yes they can, they can sit anywhere on public property. In the state I live in though you have to make driving error for them to stop you though. They will say you swerved even if you didn't.

Answer 21

There is no case law in any state that says police are not allowed to wait for drunk drivers outside a bar.  Any case law that addresses an issue like this will have different factors as part of it.  

There is nothing unethical about waiting for a DUI driver to drive.  Using that logic, we'd stop people entering bars and tell them they're entering a place where they might get drunk and then drive.

It is not entrapment in any state in the USA.  Entrapment is when the police induce someone into committing a crime they would not ordinarily commit.  How is a marked police car sitting in or near a bar parking lot inducing or encouraging anyone to drive drunk?  The answer: it ain't.

Can we wait outside a bar?  Yes.

Can we watch people stagger out of a bar and appear drunk, get in their car and drive off, and then pull them over for suspicion of DUI?  You bet we can.  And I wouldn't want to live somewhere the police couldn't do just that.  Short of a signed confession, what better reason would the police need to stop someone under those circumstances?

Isn't it funny that this question is even being asked?  

Everybody knows the police can work undercover to buy and sell drugs and few question that.  But put a fully marked police car in plain view for the world to see, and suddenly we're wondering if it's okay for them to pull over obviously drunk people getting into cars and driving.  

Odd.