New Madrid police chief addresses noise ordinances

NEW MADRID, Mo. - Over the weekend, I had several calls about loud music being played from sound systems in a couple of the city parks.

The current ordinances allow for prosecution for loud or offensive noise from car stereos, sound systems, vehicle/ATV exhaust, etc. However, there are several hurdles to enforcing the current law as it is written.

The noise ordinance itself falls under the city’s nuisance abatement codes and requires officers to measure the sound with a decibel meter, which can be difficult. In addition, the ordinance allows different sound levels at different times of the day as well as different decibel levels for “continuous airborne sound” and “impulsive sound.” Needless to say, all of these factors make enforcement very challenging.

The second way loud music or noise can be addressed is through the peace disturbance ordinance which takes decibels out of the equation. The issue with that is that it requires a citizen, not an officer, to sign as a complainant in the case; as a general rule, courts have found that “a police officer’s peace cannot be disturbed.” This could require the initial caller to go to court later to testify, and that dissuades a lot of people from signing a complaint in these cases.

With all that being said, I’ll be going to the city council meeting on June 13 to address a possible change to the nuisance abatement noise ordinance. Rather than requiring an officer to measure decibels, I will propose that the ordinance be rewritten to require an officer to hear the offending sound from a set distance.

For example, if the council were to put 200 feet as the required distance for violation and an officer patrolling a neighborhood heard a car stereo from over 200 feet, he could write the driver a ticket for violating the ordinance. The officer would then measure the distance with a roller tape, which is already standard equipment, and note the distance on the citation.

For special events, organizers would be required to obtain a permit from the city to allow an exception to the ordinance for a certain time frame.

If the council approves this change, I feel strongly that it will make enforcement much easier and reduce loud noise complaints overall.