AEG’s “Sobering Tents” Are A Total Farce.

Perhaps you’ve heard about AEG’s plan for “sobering tents” at B2B.  Well, there’s a reason they waited until two weeks before the event to announce this.  It is a PR stunt.

1. The SFPD reported fewer than five arrests last year.  So the notion they’ll suddenly need to create Hoovervilles for arrestees is a joke. 1

2. It is almost impossible for them to legally detain someone in such tents:        

   a) Public consumption of alcohol is not an arrestable offense. It is punishable by confiscation and/or a fine. 2a

   b) In order to be placed in protective custody (a drunk tank) a person must be “unable to exercise care for his or her own safety or the safety of others.”  The average social drinker at B2B is nowhere near that point. 2b

   c) Finally, since these “sobering tents” will not be open for 72 hours, it is not clear they even qualify as legal treatment facilities under California law. 2c 

3. AEG will be subjecting itself to potentially serious civil liability if it unlawfully detains or imprisons Bay to Breakers participants.

4. The SFPD does not have the resources to enforce this.  They will concentrate their efforts on egregious or obvious problems.  Be discreet and respect the neighborhoods and you should be fine. 

Don’t be fooled by AEG’s newest stunt.  These “sobering tents” are a last minute scare tactic from a corporation that is far better at PR than event management.

Footnotes: 

(1) http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/police-say-ing-bay-breakers-relatively-peaceful

(2a) Article 1 Section 21 of the San Francisco Police Code states that “[n]o person shall consume any alcoholic beverage in any quantity on any public street, avenue, [or] sidewalk”  without a permit.  Any person who violates this law “shall be guilty of an infraction, the penalty for which shall be a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $100.”

(2b) Section 647(f) of the California Penal Code states that it is a misdemeanor for any person to be “found in any public place under the influence of intoxicating liquor … in a condition that he or she is unable to exercise care for his or her own safety or the safety of others” or that “prevents the free use of any street….”  Peace officers may place violators “in civil protective custody with that kind and degree of force which would be lawful were he or she effecting an arrest for a misdemeanor without a warrant.”  CPC Section 647(g). 

(2c) Section 647(g) provides that a person in this circumstance “shall be taken to a facility, designated pursuant to Section 5170 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, for the 72-hour treatment and evaluation of inebriates.”  Section 5170 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code mandates that this type of facility must be “designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Alcohol and Drug Abuse as a facility for 72-hour treatment and evaluation of inebriates.”