The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is enforcing the state's law against public intoxication in a novel venue: bars.

Reuters reported March 22 that undercover agents recently conducted a sting operation in 36 bars in a Dallas suburb and arrested 30 people on public-intoxication charges. A spokesperson for the commission said that the goal was to intercept drunks before they drive a car or undertake other dangerous actions, and noted that being in a bar does not protect people from prosecution under the public-intoxication law.

"We feel that the only way we're going to get at the drunk-driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this," said spokesperson Carolyn Beck. "There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they're intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car. People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss."