The U.S. has been cracking down harder and harder on underage drinking and on driving while intoxicated. People under the legal drinking age who are caught inebriated are getting fined and even jailed. If they’re driving at the time, they’re losing their licenses and the fines are even bigger.
Yet every celebrity “news” rag and TV show seem to feature stories on underage celebrities like Lindsey Lohan and Britney Spears clubbing and boozing. With their exposed (heh) lives, it seems that it would take little or no effort to catch them at it.
Why aren’t cops lining up to find any excuse possible to give these celebrities a Breathalyzer test and take them in? Think of the bragging rights!
I’m putting this in GQ rather than CS because I’m hoping to hear some actual reasons why there don’t appear to be any cops that want to take down the “spoiled rich kids.”
In most cases the penalties for drinking while underage are fairly small - the perpetrator is also the victim as well being a minor. The big penalties are for serving alcohol to a minor and that’s a lot more difficult to catch. I’m guessing that somebody like Lindsay Lohan doesn’t walk up to the bar herself - she sends one of her people to get drinks and the bartender and clubowner can honestly say that no alcohol was sold to a minor.
Cops have more pressing matters on their hands than to police such things, and bar owners get free publicity and cachet from having famous people in their bar.
I don’t think it’s any more complicated than that.
I realize police have important things to do, but picture yourself as a patrol cop in LA. There are approximately 8 quadzillion reporters and paparazzi that seem to know where Lohan likes to club. It’s all over the blogs and magazines. Wouldn’t you want the notoriety of being the one with the guts to bust her when she staggers out of a club stinking drunk? Are there no cops anywhere who would enjoy doing that?
Oops. Shows you how well I keep up with the celebrities of the day. She is still a celebrity, isn’t she?
I disagree with the premise that there is a widespread effort to crack down on underage drinking, certainly not by law enforcement. In my expereince (both now as a parent and in my past life as an underaged person), cops will break up an underage drinking party if a neighbor complains, but what they’ll do is dump out the beer and send the kids home.
Respectfully, I think the OP is based on a false assumption. Underage drinking is largely tolerated in this country, except when the drinking leads to some other crime, such as DUI.
I’m not. I feel that the drinking age should be lowered. I agree that anyone old enough to join the Army should be allowed to legally drink. However, I disagree that it’s fine for them to break the law. We need to change the law, not leave it on the books to be applied inconsistently. When I read the police blotter in our local paper, it frequently lists fines issued for “MIP” (minor in possession), and multiple offenses can have consequences more serious than just a fine. Why should your average kid on the street be prosecuted for something that underage celebrities not only do, but do publicly with no consequence?
Yes, but that’s beside the point. It’s still illegal for the underage celeb to get drunk, whether s/he is driving or not.
Ok, they’re not prosecutors, but in the sense they are investigating and collecting evidence, they are certainly trying to convict criminals. We’re just talking about different innings of the same ballgame.
I have a bar just around the corner from me. There’s a big sign on the door saying “No one under 21 permitted.”
I’ve always thought that was California state law. So how is it that these minor celebrities can even get into a club at all? Some kind of loophole?
By the way, the cops in my town love shutting down clubs and stores that sell booze to minors. They have a bunch of kids working with them who try to buy booze all the time.
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