Brockton, MA Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 14-12, part of Chapter 14's public offenses article, splits the open-container ban into two subsections. Subsection (a) applies citywide and to every person regardless of age: no one may drink or possess an opened container of alcoholic beverage, as that term is defined in Section 1 of Chapter 138 of the Massachusetts General Laws, on a public way, public alley, or in a public parking space, whether the person is on foot or inside a vehicle. Subsection (b) is a separate, broader restriction aimed at anyone under twenty-one: that group cannot consume or possess alcoholic beverages at all on public highways, including inside a vehicle traveling those highways, or in any public place within the city, open container or not.

The ordinance traces back to the 1965 Code sections 14-21 and 14-22 and was amended by Ordinance No. D251 in 1988. Because the prohibition covers 'public parking spaces' specifically, it reaches municipal lots and metered spaces as well as streets, and because it covers a person 'in or upon a vehicle,' it applies to a passenger drinking in a parked car on a public way, not just someone standing on the sidewalk.