<div class="MsoNormal"><st1:City w:st="on">Moscow</st1:City>’s City Council is currently considering modifying <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Moscow</st1:City></st1:place>’s Noise Ordinance to allow police officers to issue citations without warning and without civilian complaint.<span style=""> </span>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.</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div>There is a City Council meeting tonight, Oct 1 at 7 pm to discuss it.<br><div class="MsoNormal">Being a college town, we should expect a bit of noise.<span style=""> </span>But if you are bothered, you can call the police and they will intervene.<span style=""> </span>The noisy people are given a warning and if not heeded, are ticketed.</div> <div class="MsoNormal">The proposal seems too extreme for our college town.<span style=""> </span>It
skirts too close to our constitutional rights of free speech and right to assembly and is a distraction to police work.</div> <div class="MsoNormal">It seems unnecessary to grant the police this power and responsibility.<span style=""> </span>Do we really want them to be spending their time trying to find noisy citizens?<span style=""> </span>Isn’t it adequate that they intervene when neighbors complain?<span style=""> </span>If there has been a rise in complaints, shouldn’t that be enough work for the police?<span style=""> </span>Why would they want to increase their workload actively finding violators?<span style=""> </span>Isn’t there a better way to address repeat offenders than passing such a sweeping law?</div> <div class="MsoNormal">History is full of examples of police states gone bad.<span style=""> </span>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.</div> <div class="MsoNormal">There is a reason our progressive Constitution has guaranteed citizens certain rights and limits the power of the State.<span style=""> </span>Unfortunately, the powers-that-be have consistently been chipping away at those rights, giving more power to the state.<br><br> The job of the City Council is to protect and defend the constitution and the well being of citizens.<span style=""> </span>Admittedly, that is a fine line.</div> <div class="MsoNormal">As a cynic, I am skeptical of laws that effectively reduce the responsibilities of citizens.<span style=""> </span>Currently, it is up to neighbors to notify police when others in the neighborhood are disturbing the peace.<span style=""> </span>With the proposed modifications, people will begin to believe the responsibility lies with law enforcement.<span style="">
</span>This is not a way to build community.<span style=""> </span>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.</div> <div class="MsoNormal">The proposed amendment also takes away the warning noisy people now receive before being issued a citation. This, too, seems extreme.<span style=""> </span>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.</div> <div class="MsoNormal">I play in a band and we practice at my house.<span style=""> </span>None of my neighbors have complained.<span style=""> </span>My next door neighbor has said we should open the window when we play.<span style=""> </span>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.<span style=""> </span>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.<span style=""> </span>This proposal is un-American.</div> <div class="MsoNormal">My cousin is a police officer in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Boise</st1:place></st1:City>.<span style=""> </span>He thought the proposal was extreme and potentially ripe for abuse.<span style=""> </span>He worked in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Long Beach</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State></st1:place> when a similar law was passed and said it was overturned when police began abusing it.</div> <div class="MsoNormal">I have no reason to believe our current police force will abuse the changes made, but laws aren’t about any
particular person.<span style=""> </span>There may come a day when this added police power has corrupted those responsible for overseeing it.</div> <div class="MsoNormal">I don’t find it hard to image a similar scenario to this:<span style=""> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal">Joe Moscow has unpopular political beliefs.<span style=""> </span>The powers-that-be are looking for ways to harass him.<span style=""> </span>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.</div> <div class="MsoNormal">How are the police going to enforce such an open-ended law?<span style=""> </span>Are they going to enforce it evenly, or are they going to be selective and discriminating?<span style=""> </span>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?</div> <div class="MsoNormal">I hope our elected officials see that this proposal is about more than some noisy college students.<span style=""> </span>It is about the principle that makes up our nation and community.<span style=""> </span>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?<span style=""> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal">As educated people, I hope we have learned from history and won’t let fear of the noisy neighbor affect our good sense.<span style=""> </span>Please contact our City Council members or attend the City Council meeting and ask them to vote against this proposal. <span style=""><br></span></div>Thank you,<br><br>Garrett Clevenger<br> <div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></div>