These are not made up fears, this is illegal behavior and breaking the law means risking hefty fines and a criminal record. Drinking beer in a park is not worth the possible consequences

It also varies wildly by jurisdiction and local attitudes towards alcohol.

I’ve lived in places where it’s basically tolerated so long as everyone is civil and discrete. I’ve also lived in places where they enforce it to the letter and they’re not messing around.

I think people forget how big and messy the US can be.

You either live in an extremely privileged and wealthy area or have not dealt with US police before. You don't get 25% of the world's prison population by being "quite reasonable"

Oh not my joy, back during Covid I must’ve done this dozens of times over the course of a year so I could hang out with my friends. However I’m pretty sure we only got away with it because cops just weren’t looking at all since aside from us, the park was fully empty.

On the whole I would not use the term “reasonable” to describe police. They’re power tripping infants who love to lord authority over people, and to the extent we get away with things it’s because they’re also lazy.