Calling The Cops Should Be A Two-Way Street
In a familiar scenario, a fun house party was broken up when Hermosa Beach police showed up after a complaint.
This was a Saturday night and the party consisted mostly of adults in their mid-30s to mid-40s. The door was closed to keep any outside noise reduced as a result, the party was very hot and steamy inside and the music so soft you could barely hear it over the conversations.
There was no yelling, screaming, blaring tunes or anything else that would disturb any neighbors. In fact,one would have had to have held a stethoscope to the walls to even tell there was a party going on inside the place.
A Single Person’s Complaint Shuts Down A Party
Yet someone complained anyway. This brought out the police who (very politely, it must be pointed out), asked everyone to leave and informed the hosts and guests the party was over for the night.
When leaving, a few guests overheard the police saying among themselves that the party was not loud and they were wondering why they had been called to it.
And this is the problem.
Because there was a complaint, the police had to respond and per the city’s rules had to shut it down even though the officers felt it was not a noisy or disruptive party. The city should immediately change this rule to a certain noise or disruption level rather than bow to a single person’s complaint.
Usually, a party gets one warning then is shut down and if it persists, the hosts face a pretty big fine of several hundred dollars. But this should be a two-way street. If someone complains when a party does not exceed a certain pre-determined noise level, and continues to complain, then that person should be fined.
And the noise level tolerance should be higher on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons than during the week (the party referenced above was on a Saturday night).
Hermosa Beach is a small beach community that has several single people with a house party mentality. It need house parties to maintain its culture.
What it doesn’t need are individuals who can shut down those parties just because they are alone and not having fun.
So, in effect, you could have a dinner party or children’s birthday party shut down just by complaining, regardless of noise level or laws bent/broken?! The folks hosting the suare have just as many rights as the complaintant and it seems from your description that the police’s hands tied on the equality of residents. Boring homebody with social problems=more rights than fun and outgoing with lots of friends.
This is ridiculous, as reported here in this article. There may be 2 sides to the story? In the 65 years that I have lived here, we have had a few house parties, that’s for sure. And, the cops have been called and they have always been very respectful, and LENIENT. We have always been given a second chance and told “quiet down and if we need to come back, the party is over”. But, it’s 2016 now and with the trial lawyers and all the PC crap, it’s a different world indeed.