It finally happened…shut down by the cops!

[Rip Van Dan]

Better to be shut down by cops than by the chops

I've been on booth sides. Once I called a cops to a business Christmas party just under my apartment. They were that loud that my plates jumped out of kitchen elements. I tried to talk to them first but the guy in charge was drunk and shouted at me to call the cops, so I did.

Sounds like you were just being neighborly and following his suggestion!

 

[lokikallas]

Happened to me once. As soon as I see the uniforms I start packing it up. No point complaining, there will be other parties.

Last week I played 2 parties, set up in the back yards, and driveway. First we played 4-7 second was 9-11:30. Didn't hear a peep from neighbors or cops.
The early one was a nice Palos Verde suburban neighborhood, and the late one was a "harder" neighborhood in north Long Beach. I was a bit shocked nobody cared as we were not quiet at all. I guess we were good enough to not annoy people too badly.

 

[IamGroot]

Around 1980, a house about 3000 ft away turned into a honkey tonk with really load music, Sheriff said tough, they are abusiness and could do what they want.

They added a mobile home. Got busted for running drugs and women. Been peaceful since then.

 

[Runlikegregg]

Where I live, until 10pm? Tough poopie. Sheriff doesn't roll on noise calls unless several calls come in.

perhaps in that case, location is not overrated! Ha ha ha

 

[Slough Feg Bass]

I do a lot of outdoor courtyards, restaurant patios and the like, and sometimes other businesses complain, and they don't realize we have a permit and such, with defined sound levels etc. A few months ago, a business owner woman got in my guitar players face about the volume in the middle of a song, and he almost snapped at her, but I calmed them both down...I've since purchased a decibel meter and used it to illustrate to people that we are within the volume defined by the city. It works pretty well !

 

[Mastermold]

My band just played a Halloween block party today …or “attempted to play,” I should say. We even had a permit and notified the neighbors (they all showed up and we’re having a great time). I ran sound and erred way on the side of “just loud enough to get the job done.” Standing 30 feet in front of the mains, I had a conversation with my friend without raising our voices. Most of the neighborhood (who was not at the party) was outside trick or treating or doing yard work. We were no louder than a couple of freaking lawn mowers.

The opening band played for an hour, then we switched over and started our set. About 5 songs in, the cops showed up. This was 3:50pm on a Sunday afternoon…Halloween day no less. One @$$&#% neighbor called the cops. We were shut down not even half way through our first set. The cops were just doing their job (although they were lying out their &$$ 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. They did not have a decibel meter, nor would they have known the difference between a decibel and a doorbell. “You can have a party as long as nobody complains, and somebody has complained.” It was an anonymous call, so they claimed to have no way to go back to the complainant to say we were in compliance, we’d be done by 5pm, etc. By the time 5 cops and a sergeant showed up, We just decided is was a no-win situation. Hours of prep work, hauling and setting up gear, having the support and encouragement of 99% of the neighbors… down the crapper.

No more block parties for me. Yeah, I’m still a bit cheesed, to say the least.

Did you get paid?

 

[Ostie]

yup, cops suuuuuuck

No, they don’t. They’re just doing their job. If someone complains, they’re obligated to respond. It’s the complainants that suck.

I live near a sportsman’s club with a shooting range. This time of year, hunting season, it’s pretty noisy over there. But nobody shoots after dark, and they are just enjoying their hobby. I enjoy shooting sports, although I’m not a member and I don’t hunt. So I don’t complain. I get pretty used to the noise. It doesn’t keep me up. It doesn’t really bother me, and I don’t have any gun shy dogs. People need to be more tolerant. Geez, if I hear live music, I start looking for the party and go check it out. Live music is fun music!

 

[roller]

I used to live in a condo building in which the upper floors had small balconies... or as dog owners referred to them, "backyards." Yup, these folks would put their dogs into the "backyards"... the dogs would get out there and go bananas... and the fun ensued for the neighbors.

Most dog owners are really great... but these days, some owners get so defensive when even the most remote accusation is made about something their pooch did.

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!!!

 

[Hounddog409]

I can understand both sides. I think you did everything right.

You were performing in a residential area though and sound can carry pretty far sometimes. I can hear the highschool ball game that is about a mile from my house loud enough that it sounds like people talking on my porch.

Also, your neighbor might not be a complete jerk. I've been on the side where I just got home from a 30 hour work day and am trying to sleep when my neighbor's band decided to have a session. If similar happened with your concert, and I didn't know who you were, I'd call the cops. Though I might have held some reserve with it being Halloween and definitely if you had gone door to door with an invitation.

Who cares? Middle of the day, whoever took the phone call should just have replied " call back after 9".

People need to grow a set.

 

[rantbot]

It's terrifying for a lot of animals; been there, had to comfort them through some stupidly loud neighbourhood NYE fireworks. They have no clue what's going on or why it's happening, just that they want to get as far away from it as they can. Please try a bit of empathy for them, even if their owners are jerks.

I knew a dog which would start whimpering and drooling about a week before there were any fireworks at all, not even strays. Must have been able to read a calendar, which can get annoying. Though not quite as annoying as one which has figured out how to open the refrigerator. (Knew one of those, too.)

 

[HolmeBass]

This is exactly what happened to us. Except the cops didn't know the difference between a decibel and a doorbell. They did not have a decibel meter – 5 cops standing around on their phones and radios wondering who to call to get one. They didn't know what the acceptable limit was. They were unprepared to respond professionally to the complaint, and they gave us no room to comply or compromise.

In hindsight, despite thinking we were covered by pulling (and paying for) a permit:
1) We should have prepared for this eventuality by knowing the ordinance and permit language inside and out.
2) We should have made sure the permit explicitly stated the acceptable dB volume level. And we should have had our own means of measuring it.
3) We should have reviewed the permit in-person with the city council to fully understand any restrictions as well as our rights as the permit holder. And then we should have invited the city council and mayor to the party (I'm only half-joking...the mayor lives in the neighborhood).
4) We should have had a printed copy of the permit with important details highlighted. We did have a copy of the permit on an iPhone.
5) We should have anticipated a noise complaint, and set up accordingly to allow us to play at the lowest possible volume: electronic drum kit, ampless guitars and bass (or cabinets pointed at the sky), in-ear monitors.
6) We should have had a plan for dealing with the cops.

As it happened, I don't think this would have mattered – any amount of noise beyond the leaves rustling on the trees was enough for this neighbor to call and complain. I'd venture to guess they are the same type of people who lock their doors and turn off the porch light on Halloween – then call the cops a minute after the posted trick or treat time if kids are still walking by their house.

As for the person who said something about understanding that some people work the night shift and sleep during the day... yes, I get that. That's why we chose to do this on Halloween day, mid-afternoon, with a permit. There are 52 Sundays during the year. We asked for and received permission to have a party with live music for 3 hours on one of those Sundays. We took measures to notify and invite the neighbors (who by and large gave us their full support), and we took measures to play at a reasonable level. Anyone who is a day-sleeper should own a pair of earplugs and have a dark, quiet room in their house. Who is being unreasonable here...the hundred people who showed up with their families to enjoy a few hours of music on a Sunday afternoon when people are out celebrating anyway, or one individual who holds the entire neighborhood hostage? Or the police, who did not know the ordinance they were responding to enforce, nor make any attempt to reach an understanding/compromise?

So, lesson learned. It once again proved one of my favorite sayings: "No good deed goes unpunished."

Read the noise ordnance very carefully. It usually involves some time-of-day stipulations, and then a specific dB reading from a specific distance from the property line. But often they are written by people who don’t know a decibel from a doorbell, and may be internally inconsistent or allow too much latitude in interpretation.

In the long run too much arguing with the police will not work in your favor.

 

[Andy Marshman]

Same thing for me yesterday. We didn't require a permit in a residential area. We played from 1 pm to 2:45 from the driveway (we did this about a year ago between lockdowns). During our last song, the police car rolls through, stops and listens until we finish then politely gets out of the car. He said a neighbour 2 doors down complained about the noise. We had a couple of dozen neighbours enjoying the performance. The cop said "no worries. I like the Doobie Brothers". We were finished anyways. That was all. We packed up and laughed it off.

 

[HolmeBass]

One solution is to have as many people as possible video the entire exchange with their smartphones. If it doesn’t stop the nonsense right then and there, or it escalates because you’ve had the audacity to remind a police officer that they’re supposed to be behaving like a police officer rather than a soldier in an army of occupation, it’ll eventually end up with a public apology from the chief of police and (possibly) an eventual legal settlement.

My run-ins with the police happened long before smart phones, even before digital cameras, lol.

Now I play at clubs mostly, or for private parties set up far enough from others to be ok. And also since I am not throwing the party, I don’t deal with the police either.

We used to play a few clubs in one part of town where their neighbors would complain. No matter how quietly we played, nor how much sound-proofing went up, there were a few houses that always complained. We’d take a break and the stereo playing canned music would be twice as loud as the band but get no complaints. These people just hated live music.

All of those clubs are out of business. In this instance, the neighbors won, with the imbalanced support of the police.

 

[HolmeBass]

I am 1000000% with you. I hike and climb, and dogs out at the crag is a frequently debated topic. The issues with the dogs (in my belief) is very rarely the dog; it's the owner and their woeful inadequacies in training their animals.

I'm big on personal accountability/responsibility, and unfortunately the older I get (maybe THAT'S the problem ) the less and less I see of it around me.

The reality is training a dog well is not simple. Most people seem to stop when the dog stops peeing inside, woefully short of actually training the dog to behave properly in society, among other people and dogs/pets.

 

[iiipopes]

My band just played a Halloween block party today …or “attempted to play,” I should say. We even had a permit and notified the neighbors (they all showed up and we’re having a great time). I ran sound and erred way on the side of “just loud enough to get the job done.” Standing 30 feet in front of the mains, I had a conversation with my friend without raising our voices. Most of the neighborhood (who was not at the party) was outside trick or treating or doing yard work. We were no louder than a couple of freaking lawn mowers.

The opening band played for an hour, then we switched over and started our set. About 5 songs in, the cops showed up. This was 3:50pm on a Sunday afternoon…Halloween day no less. One @$$&#% neighbor called the cops. We were shut down not even half way through our first set. The cops were just doing their job (although they were lying out their &$$ 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. They did not have a decibel meter, nor would they have known the difference between a decibel and a doorbell. “You can have a party as long as nobody complains, and somebody has complained.” It was an anonymous call, so they claimed to have no way to go back to the complainant to say we were in compliance, we’d be done by 5pm, etc. By the time 5 cops and a sergeant showed up, We just decided is was a no-win situation. Hours of prep work, hauling and setting up gear, having the support and encouragement of 99% of the neighbors… down the crapper.

No more block parties for me. Yeah, I’m still a bit cheesed, to say the least.

You're in good company. Even the Beatles had an outdoor concert shut down for too loud for the neighbors.

 

[HolmeBass]

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.

Which would take some time, dedication, and money.

But it is a frustrating abuse of power and dereliction of duty.

 

[kentiki]

Until they come in a helicopter, no big deal.

 

[Corigan]

Until they come in a helicopter, no big deal.

When they come with the all black silent ones is when you really need to worry.

 

[SixtyCycleHum]

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.

It's amazing when it comes to fireworks and canines, man. Oh, so let me get this straight, Karen. Your little yapping SOB suddenly doesn't like loud noises on NYE?

 

[ThudThudThud]

IF they did get a call it's now a public record, and you can request the transcript via the Freedom of Information Act. If you were so inclined, and cared enough about it, you could find out who called.
That way you could, perhaps, talk to them next time before it happens.

Did you actually test the dBs? I remember a bar in Santa Barbara where the bartender would constantly check a dB meter to make sure he didn't get closed down.

Try not to make the police do any actual investigation themselves (like knowing which ordinance they are trying to invoke, or actually testing the dB levels) as it just makes them testy.