It finally happened…shut down by the cops!

[C Stone]

I used to hate that crap. Good gawd. An anonymous call trumps a permit!!???

Especially if the OP was in fact within the legal decibel limits. Jerks can call all day and complain about legal activity, police officers are "law enforcement" not "feelings police" A threat of arrest and/or confiscation of property for a legal activity is a clear violation of the fourth amendment as well as a civil rights violation, it can cause them to lose thier qualified immunity and subject them personal liability as well as the city that employs them if one decides to file a lawsuit just sayin.

 

[DirtDog]

Not where I live. They will not accept an anonymous complaint for a civil code violation. Tried that twice.

You must be in an area with E-911 or NG-911. Not all areas are at that point.

 

[micguy]

Getting shut down by the cops is a right of passage. Yes, you can bitch about the fact that you weren't too loud and all that, but you're missing the point. You need to embrace your new status as a musician that has been shut down. What this experience gives you is the start of a legend. As we all know, a legend is a story BASED on fact, but over time the yarn gets spun thicker and thicker.

So.....you can now talk about the time you got shut down, but for cripes sake don't be completely truthful. Embellish a bit. Every time you tell it, add a little something. 40 years from now, it'll be a heck of a tale.

You're welcome

 

[juancaminos]

I remember those days but it was always around 10:00pm! "Shut it down or we'll confiscate your equipment"!

Years later, When we moved to a rural area, there were parties every non-winter week end. Some were real loud until the wee hours. We never called the police. There was a Mexican Rodeo Arena about a 1/2 mile away. The Mariachi bands can be so loud it's like they are in your back yard. Yet none of us in the area ever called the police.

I also remember a Venue that was in the middle of orange orchards just outside of the city. They had all of the outdoor activities set up. Volley Ball, Horse Shoes and on and on. They had a real nice outdoor stage with a huge dace floor. But two orchards over was an older lady who hated live music. We were not a loud band but she would call the police about half the time we played here. She was far away too. Fortunately the police were pretty cool about it. Here is one trick we used...We showed the venue manager the knob on the mixing board hat would turn the entire band down a notch, so anytime he felt we were too loud he could feel free to turn us down but to use that knob sparingly. In reality, of course, that knob was an unused channel. But when we saw him tweak it, the entire band would play quieter. A few bands did that and he loved those that did.

 

[Johnny Fingers]

Back in the day Halloween was our big night of the year, with multiple offers of venues to play.
I think the cops even showed up with fliers a few times at 10:01 pm. There were more than a few riots at night time keggers as well as nooners and day parties.
Usually they cut us some slack when the people left so we could load out. As long as they don't have to come back they were happy.
We had to keep finding larger halls that could hold thousands of people or move it outside of the city limits to farms, ranches and even on the Indian Reservation.
Cost of doing business.

 

[Giraffe]

...The cops were just doing their job (although they were lying out their &$$ about decibel levels and fines and confiscating our gear if we failed to comply). When we asked them to show us the ordinance, they could not...

I wouldn't last long in that neighborhood, all the noise I make! They'd have to open a sub-station on my front lawn to handle all the complaints! They're sending a car over a single noise complaint?!?! That must be the cleanest, safest, most buttoned down town in the world! In a lot of jurisdictions, they don't send a car until they get multiple reports of gunfire, let alone music.

Please tell us where you live. Some might want to move there, some might want to avoid it!

This works differently in different jurisdictions and even different neighborhoods, but officers have a lot of discretion in cases like yours. They don't need to carry a dB meter, and they don't need to show you the ordnance. Your comment about them lying is probably guesswork on your part, I doubt you know any more about the current regs than a pumpkin!

It sounds to me like they cut you some slack. Five units and the shift supe suggests they were getting ready to call the contractor and have your gear hauled off to the seizure lot. Happens all the time. There are usually a few stupid decisions made by a junior wanna-be-lawyer just prior. There are intelligent ways to handle the attitude test, and there are other ways. Sounds like you passed, barely.

Pick your fights carefully.

 

[C Stone]

 

[kleinenenten]

Man, these days it's dog owners. The Next Door app around here goes NUTS right before July 4th with dog owners who have their dogs on medication for their nerves begging (literally begging people) not to shoot off fireworks. (Those same people, in my experience, have no problem sharing their animal's fecal matter with the whole neighborhood and get righteously indignant if you say anything about THAT.)

I bet Fifi, the miniature husky doodle, whimpered 200 yards away one time and somebody called the cops.

Ironically, my dog HATES fireworks, or thunder, or anything like that. Hearing a single bottle rocket a few blocks away drives her nuts. But I can crank my bass and she'll be right next to me. She's an odd one.

That being said, I don't sleep the week before or after 4th of July. And if I do, it's in the basement, with numerous sound dampening and blocking elements so she doesn't hear anything. I don't mind people doing fireworks, but please be done at a reasonable hour! Going until 2AM is a bit much...

 

[MasterMonkeyMan]

Man, these days it's dog owners. The Next Door app around here goes NUTS right before July 4th with dog owners who have their dogs on medication for their nerves begging (literally begging people) not to shoot off fireworks. (Those same people, in my experience, have no problem sharing their animal's fecal matter with the whole neighborhood and get righteously indignant if you say anything about THAT.)

I bet Fifi, the miniature husky doodle, whimpered 200 yards away one time and somebody called the cops.

And those that leave their barking dogs in the courtyard all day while out to work and the dogs bark all frickin day long.
Arrghhhh!!!

 

[MasterMonkeyMan]

The vocalist in my most recent, now defunct, band was the psychologist who was in charge of doing the cops psych evals. One day someone called the cops on our rehearsal. She answered the door and they were like "Oh, hey....we're sorry to trouble you but a neighbor complained. Just be sure to finish by 10 p.m. We'll tell the neighbors we talked to you." Never had another visit in 5 years!
Everyone needs a police psychologist in the band!

 

[Ric5]

I played a party in the mountains where the neighbors are farther away nonetheless somebody called the sheriff, fortunately he came after the last set so we said we were already done

 

[higain617]

Hopefully it wasn't a third encore of "Mustang Sally" that got you pinched.

 

[SirMjac28]

Man, these days it's dog owners. The Next Door app around here

I love that app because you get to see who's crazy in your neighborhood.

 

[Ostie]

We were playing at an after hours club one time maybe 40 years ago. It was upstairs above a retail store, but again, after hours. The cops showed up and said we had to turn it down. We said Okay, but who complained? There was no one around at that hour, no neighbors in the downtown area. They said "well, you're so loud you set off the alarm on the jewelry store downstairs!" It was kinda funny, actually.

 

[two fingers]

I love that app because you get to see who's crazy in your neighborhood.

Affirmative. The Karens just kind help themselves.

 

[staurosjohn]

When you fight authority, authority always wins.

Sounds like the makins of a song…

 

[jdh3000]

I've never played one that the police weren't called out at least once no matter how quiet we played, and been shut down many times.

Even if it's not bothering anyone someone will complain.

 

[Lesfunk]

I find it ironic that anybody can be out in the yard at 7:30 AM with a chainsaw s all day with no problem but music is offensive

 

[coy garcia]

Played a private party a few months ago and the cops showed up as were were packing up. Perfect timing we told him and he was cool.

 

[707GK]

The county I live in doesn't allow any outdoor amplified music. Times are changing, and people still love the "idea" of live music, but NIMBY is more common than ever.

Not too far from here, a couple of major venues have been known to shut off power to big-name musicians right in the middle of their set, if they end up playing past 10:00pm. And these are well known venues, not just little clubs. This is due to legal restrictions because neighbors don't want to hear the noise.