[Vision2020] Oppose Proposed Noise Ordinance Modifications

[Garrett Clevenger]

  Moscow’s City Council is currently considering modifying Moscow’s Noise Ordinance to allow police officers to issue citations without warning and without civilian complaint.  The justification is because there is an increase in noise complaints and police should be able to ticket people immediately to bring harmony to the community.

There is a City Council meeting tonight, Oct 1 at 7 pm to discuss it.
Being a college town, we should expect a bit of noise.  But if you are bothered, you can call the police and they will intervene.  The noisy people are given a warning and if not heeded, are ticketed.
    The proposal seems too extreme for our college town.  It skirts too close to our constitutional rights of free speech and right to assembly and is a distraction to police work.
    It seems unnecessary to grant the police this power and responsibility.  Do we really want them to be spending their time trying to find noisy citizens?  Isn’t it adequate that they intervene when neighbors complain?  If there has been a rise in complaints, shouldn’t that be enough work for the police?  Why would they want to increase their workload actively finding violators?  Isn’t there a better way to address repeat offenders than passing such a sweeping law?
    History is full of examples of police states gone bad.  The recent incident of 5 police officers tackling and tasering a college student at a John Kerry speech highlights the fine line between respect for authority and distrust of giving specific people such power.
      There is a reason our progressive Constitution has guaranteed citizens certain rights and limits the power of the State.  Unfortunately, the powers-that-be have consistently been chipping away at those rights, giving more power to the state.

 The job of the City Council is to protect and defend the constitution and the well being of citizens.  Admittedly, that is a fine line.
    As a cynic, I am skeptical of laws that effectively reduce the responsibilities of citizens.  Currently, it is up to neighbors to notify police when others in the neighborhood are disturbing the peace.  With the proposed modifications, people will begin to believe the responsibility lies with law enforcement.  This is not a way to build community.  It is a slow progression of giving away our power to police our community and giving it to those who, frankly, have more important things to deal with.
    The proposed amendment also takes away the warning noisy people now receive before being issued a citation. This, too, seems extreme.  Many people don’t know they are disturbing the peace and thus deserve a warning before being fined for something they didn’t know was a problem.
    I play in a band and we practice at my house.  None of my neighbors have complained.  My next door neighbor has said we should open the window when we play.  I try to be considerate so wouldn’t do that, but at the same time, I don’t want to feel intimidated by the police when I am not disturbing the neighborhood if for some reason we play louder than the police desire.  Psychologically, this repression of freedom of expression inherent in this proposed modification damages the principle of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence.  This proposal is un-American.
    My cousin is a police officer in Boise.  He thought the proposal was extreme and potentially ripe for abuse.  He worked in Long Beach, CA when a similar law was passed and said it was overturned when police began abusing it.
    I have no reason to believe our current police force will abuse the changes made, but laws aren’t about any particular person.  There may come a day when this added police power has corrupted those responsible for overseeing it.
    I don’t find it hard to image a similar scenario to this:  
    Joe Moscow has unpopular political beliefs.  The powers-that-be are looking for ways to harass him.  Joe is out mowing his lawn, violating the noise ordinance. Unlucky Joe, not disturbing his neighbors, now faces a fine or jail time simply because he was targeted.
    How are the police going to enforce such an open-ended law?  Are they going to enforce it evenly, or are they going to be selective and discriminating?  Are they going to target certain neighborhoods or people, or are we all going to be subject to police intrusion for making a little bit of noise?
    I hope our elected officials see that this proposal is about more than some noisy college students.  It is about the principle that makes up our nation and community.  Do we want laws that uphold the Constitution and individual rights, or are we, law by law, slipping into the realm of the police state?  
    As educated people, I hope we have learned from history and won’t let fear of the noisy neighbor affect our good sense.  Please contact our City Council members or attend the City Council meeting and ask them to vote against this proposal.  

Thank you,

Garrett Clevenger
   
  
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