Criminal law, Society

Potty Police: Tennessee Sheriff Runs Plates Of Car For Restaurant To Charge For Use Of Bathroom

398099_402900449794167_1324443176_nIn Erin, Tennessee, The Flood Zone on Highway 149 is serious about its bathrooms. When Patricia Barnes used the bathroom and then left without buying anything, the owner ran outside and wrote down the license plate of her car. Later, she received a $5 charge for the use of the bathroom. Putting aside that that is a pretty high cost for the use of a bathroom, Barnes wondered how the restaurant could have tracked down her address. The answer appears to be Houston County Sheriff Darrell Allison, who ran the plate for the restaurant.


There is so much wrong with this story. First, I am not sure what legal basis the restaurant has to insist on a $5 fee. It is not clear if the restaurant states such a fee outside of the bathroom.

The bigger problem is the role of Sheriff Allison who gave the information to a private business to charge an individual. Allison insists that he ran the plates because it was a possible crime. Presumably, that is the crime of using a bathroom without buying food?

If that is true, however, Allison notably did not file a police report or file charges. He simply handed over the information to a private citizen.

Allison insists that this is not a big deal and that he did nothing wrong. That makes this even more worrisome that Allison has no concept of basic rules of privacy and professionalism in law enforcement. Police are not supposed to work as agents of private citizens or businesses. Allison used public authority and resources to assist a private business. Not only did he turn his department into a glorified collection agency but did so solely on the word of this owner.

I am not sure why anyone would want to go to The Flood Zone given the extreme measures used by the owners. If you are on Highway 149, you might want to go down the road to “Sweet P” or “Jap Smith BarBQ.” if you do not want your license plates recorded.

Now for the most wonderful twist on the story, the owner of The Flood Zone said that she will no longer charge for bathrooms.

In the end, it is Allison that has the most explaining to do. He gave a private citizen the name and address of a couple after using official resources to track them down.

Source: MSMV

Kudos: Michael Blott

52 thoughts on “Potty Police: Tennessee Sheriff Runs Plates Of Car For Restaurant To Charge For Use Of Bathroom”

  1. rafflaw, The privacy laws differ in every state. In Wi., anyone can go to the DMV and for a $6 fee and run a license plate. Wi. has a history of open govt. which should be a model for the nation, but unfortunately is not.

  2. Re: Anonymously Yours

    Justice Holmes was decades before his time. We could learn a few things from Justice Brandeis also!

  3. People in Tennessee should start leaving bags of Dog Crap on the hoods of parked Police cars……….

  4. Quite Contrary

    Thanks for posting the Lee Baca “Sheriff of the Year” link. I posted it to the Corrections page last night…

  5. Wasn’t this a violation of privacy laws? How can any police agency hand out personal information from a state database without permission or a warrant? This Sheriff needs to be brought up on charges. I did not think it was legal to charge for a pubic bathroom if there was not a free one available in the same building. Maybe I am remembering that wrong.

  6. As for the $5, she should just not pay. Make the restaurant pay to take her to small-claims if they really want to collect that badly.

  8. Theocracy coupled with a police state–what wonders we have yet to behold. -Justice Holmes

    Some doozies, to be sure. One of these days…

  9. It’s even more complicated than that. After 9/11 many local and state law enforcement agencies were “deputized” by the federal government essentially acting as an arm of the federal government while simultaneously erasing the line between terrorism and traditional crimes. Today the vast majority of “terrorism” laws are being used for “non-terrorism” and “non-criminal” cases. Once the “fruit of the poisonous tree” (proper legal term) is tainted like that it destroys the original criminal evidence, so the exploitation destroys likely thousands of cases. It also opens up local police officers to future war crimes charges (acting as an arm of the federal government).
    ACLU lawyers will be having a field day!

  10. I wonder if the police would consider it a breach of protocol to release the name of the restaurant.

  13. Another State to avoid…. It’s getting so freaky out there, they may have to redraw the maps, outlining states to stay out of. Yesterday, Viriginia, the former ”State for Lovers” passed a law to make it illegal for couples to cohabit, without being married. Sharia Law, anyone???? Or is this just plain old Christianity??? Same Sh*t, different name………..

  15. Darren: Even with good intentions this type of police culture eventually leads to very costly Defamation Lawsuits, where the police are cozy with some citizens while making other citizens meet a higher standard (2nd Class Citizens). It can also be a federal felony under some instances under the Privacy Act.

  19. “I would have to know you, one, and I would have to know that you’re not the type of person that would just come to me or any officer wanting information about somebody or something,” Allison said.

    So if you were a friend of the sheriff, you could have the information you want.

    That the restaurant would have the nerve to waste the time and effort to send such a letter to this woman, demanding $5 to pay for the toilet use, is certainly one to avoid. Hope that five bucks was worth earning your restaurant national embarassment. No soup business for you!

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