Underage guests making an attempt to sneak booze into this month’s St. Patrick’s Day parade through Red Line trains might not make it previous MBTA Transit Police, who’ve been directed to confiscate alcohol because it comes into stations.
Boston City Councilor Michael Flaherty stated Transit Police are within the good place to confiscate alcohol earlier than underage and public ingesting can develop into an issue in a while, within the day and night.
These officers will likely be stationed on the 4 busiest Red Line stations alongside the parade route — Andrew, Broadway, JFK/UMass and South — the place underage youngsters will likely be “coming in carrying 30-packs,” Flaherty stated.
“That’s the moment where we’re asking the MBTA police to stop that individual and to confiscate that alcohol, so that doesn’t turn into problems later on in the day and evening for our Boston police officers,” he stated.
“We want to make sure that day, as it pertains to public drinking and underage drinking, we want a zero-tolerance policy.”
In addition to confiscating booze, citations could also be issued to offenders, Flaherty stated, describing alcohol consumption and underage ingesting as town’s essential concern heading into the South Boston parade.
State Sen. Nick Collins, D-Boston, stated lawmakers additionally pushed for package deal shops to be closed the day of the parade, which is ready for Sunday, March 19.
This is supposed to forestall underage guests from buying extra alcohol to exchange what Transit Police might have confiscated. It’s additionally geared toward curbing public ingesting, Collins stated.
An unnamed official stated porta potties may even be situated alongside the parade route for the primary time, as a result of residents complained in previous years about strangers exhibiting up at their houses and asking to make use of their bogs.
Parade-goers would additionally relieve themselves between a automobile or alleyway or behind a tree, “so it got a little obnoxious to the community,” the supply stated.
“The neighborhood residents were feeling that it was getting to be almost kind of like a Mardi Gras,” the supply stated.
A Transit Police spokesperson didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”