Noise Downtown

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Permalink Reply by Liz on January 31, 2010 at 8:00pm

Here is an email I sent Police Chief Kerns on the subject of noise downtown a few days ago. I also appended his reply which I received today. In particular, he mentions that as part of their currently-in-planning downtown safety strategy, it may be possible to start a community policing program to address the problem of noise downtown, starting with the a******* who play their car stereos at 100dB at 3:00 a.m.

FYI, Pete Kerns may be reached at PoliceChief@ci.eugene.or.us, and the cc's are:

BARRONG Lisa R Lisa.R.Barrong@ci.eugene.or.us,
QUINN Kathleen R Kathleen.R.Quinn@ci.eugene.or.us
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Dear Chief Kerns,

Thank you for attending the Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting last Thursday. We appreciate your taking the time to keep us informed.

I was especially curious about your remark that although private security officers cannot make arrests or write citations, they can file reports which can subsequently be used as evidence during prosecution when the police do make an arrest or issue a ticket.

I have a concern which may seem to be a trivial matter, but it significantly impacts quality of life for many downtown residents. I'm sure you are aware that late-night street noise is a continual problem downtown. One particularly obnoxious violation is the playing of car stereos at extremely high volume--loud enough to be audible hundreds of yards away--as late as 3:00 a.m., generally by young people on their way to and from the bars. To cite one example of an all-too-frequent occurrence, last night a Dodge SUV parked in front of John Henry's was playing rap music clearly audible in Broadway Place between 2:00 and 2:30 a.m.

This is an obvious violation of Section 4.083 of the City Code, and since the offenders identify themselves with their license plates, it would require a minimum of police resources to prosecute, particularly if citizens (I cheerfully volunteer) and/or private security officers may be enlisted to report the license plates of violators. I also believe that with some attention, this problem could be resolved quickly, since it is my impression that there are a relatively small number of individuals who feel the need to disturb their neighbors in this thoughtless and idiotic manner.

As you pointed out at our meeting, an important reason to control behavior crime is that it is "contagious." Perhaps cracking down on these blatant and easy-to-prosecute noise violations--if necessary, with the help of the community and private security personnel--will help to create a generally more respectful environment at night downtown.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Very truly yours,
Elizabeth Henning
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Ms. Henning, thank you for your correspondence. I completely understand your complaint about noisy car stereos and for the life of me don't get how someone could be so oblivious or willing to be that obnoxious and inconsiderate. Unfortunately, we do not presently have the resources to take complaints of that nature or respond to them.

One of the first steps in the implementation of our downtown safety strategy will be to receive and document behavior crimes which could include loud car stereos. I hope to have this up and running before Summer. We probably will not be able to respond to those incidents, but having the license plate number will help and I'll explain why.

One of our Volunteer in Policing programs has our volunteers using a speed radar to identify speeders in school zones. The volunteers don't stop the violators, but do record their license plate number and send them a letter which advises the registered owner their car was seen speeding and asks them to drive more cautiously. The letters warn that they could in the future receive an expensive citation if stopped by a police officer for the same violation.

We can consider a similar program for people who violate our noise ordinance with car stereos.

I have cc:ed our community policing sergeant with this message so that you can write directly to her if you choose. Pete

Permalink Reply by Matt Johnson on February 1, 2010 at 10:27pm

Liz,
Living near you, I too share the same frustrations. Moreover, to Chief Kerns' response, I am not sure why Eugene's Police Department doesn't take advantage of some of the more "low-hanging fruit." In short, with relatively minimal experience, police forces throughout our country ticket offender after offender for fine and release violations, e.g. speeding tickets, noise violations, public intoxication, etc...

In my opinion, what is more discouraging are the number of cars leaving downtown during these hours, with drivers who are, more than likely, over Oregon's legal limit. Not since I've moved to Downtown Eugene, have I seen someone pulled over for a DUI. In good conscience, few law enforcement professionals could claim that drivers at these hours, leaving bars, don't deserve having their breath analyzed for alcohol.

I acknowledge that the Eugene Police Force doesn’t have the resources from which to consistently draw, for these sorts of crimes, but enforcement of these offenses shouldn’t be missed. If Eugene Police cannot crack down on drunk driving in downtown Eugene and the lesser simultaneous violations, they should appeal for help from other government agencies.