Public Intoxication
N.J.S.A. 26:2B-26 — no town may make being intoxicated in public an offense, and an officer may help a person home or to treatment
Not an offense. No county, municipality or other political subdivision may adopt any law, ordinance or regulation that makes public intoxication, or being found anywhere in an intoxicated condition, an offense, a violation, or the subject of criminal or civil penalties of any kind. Laws against driving after drinking or under the influence, and similar offenses involving vehicles, machinery or hazardous equipment, are unaffected.
A person intoxicated in a public place may be assisted to their residence, an intoxication treatment center or another facility by a police officer or other authorized person. To decide whether the person is intoxicated, the officer may ask the person to submit to a reasonable test, such as of coordination, coherency of speech, and breath. A person the officer has reason to believe is incapacitated is assisted to a treatment center or other facility.
The officer may use force reasonably necessary to do this, other than force likely to inflict physical injury, and may search the person and the immediate surroundings only to the extent necessary to find a dangerous weapon, when the officer reasonably believes safety requires it.
A person assisted to a facility is not considered arrested, and no record may be made to show an arrest. Disorderly conduct while intoxicated is a separate matter, on the disorderly conduct page.
Sources for this section (2)
- N.J.S.A. 26:2B-26 — No local law making public intoxication an offense
- N.J.S.A. 26:2B-16 — Person intoxicated in a public place; assistance to a facility
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed New Jersey attorney.