Movie Star Blog

Was Chief John Anderton predicting the future in Minority Report.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) has formed its very own Department of Pre-Crime, except without a hot-tub full of psychics and Tom Cruise. The program is quite simple. Undercover TABC operatives infiltrate drinking establishments and spy on the clientele. The undercover officers watch the patrons for signs of intoxication. People identified as drunk are turned over to uniformed agents waiting outside and arrested for public intoxication. The program, which began in 2001, is called Sales to Intoxicated Persons, or SIP (I am not kidding). In addition to drunken patrons getting hauled before the Man (in Texas, public intoxication is a class C misdemeanor, punishable by a $500 fine), the program is designed to identify and punish bar employees who over-serve drunk customers.