The price of being loud

Unreasonable fine increase for noise
By CHRISTOPHER J. ORTIZ

The Rocky Mountain Collegian, Colorado State University
People hate when prices go up. Listen to the complaints about gas prices going up 20 percent or about CSU parking permit prices going up next year. While filling up your tank and looking for a spot might cost you a few more bucks, that is nothing compared to how much a noise violation fine will hit your wallet.
The city of Fort Collins has increased the fine for unreasonable noise violations from $200 to a whoppin' $1,000. No that is not a typo: That is a 500 percent increase.
Apparently, fighting noise in Fort Collins is starting to cost more.
According to Lt. Jim Szakmeister of Fort Collins Police Services, the increase is in response to the overriding view of City Council that noise nuisance significantly decreases the quality of life in the city.
People who have the cops called on them are not going to get a grand fine. The fine can be dropped based on how cooperative the violators are with the police, how many offenses the noise polluters have, how out of the control the party is, among other things. FCPS calls it cooperative impact. But still, the standing fine rate is $1,000.
Get this: the fine of a DUI - $1,000. From this perspective, the city regards drinking and driving and having a loud party as the same level of offensiveness. Absurd.
But the sketchiest thing about this is that the city does not define what is unreasonable. While cities like Denver have a decibel level to determine what is unreasonable, the wonderful city of Fort Collins leaves it up to the responding police officers to deem what is unreasonable and what isn't.
While one officer might feel a boombox on the back porch on a Saturday night is a noise nuisance and will stick someone with a $1,000 fine, another officer might let someone off who has a live band playing on the front lawn on Sunday night.
When laws and city codes are subjective they become unfair and unreasonable.
Szakmeister said that a few people cause the problem that makes this kind of response necessary. He also wants to ensure that this enforcement is not singling out students but anyone who violates the city code.
With classes winding down and as people start planning their graduation parties, they should know that the noise they produce can cost them a lot more than they think.
In an internal e-mail between city employees I have obtained about the fine, it states:
"When enforcing a loud party violation or any other noise violation, it is important that officers not set expectations to the violators of what will happen in court. Please do not mention fines to the violators. If a violator asks about the fine, you can tell them that it is now $1,000. HOWEVER (sic), if they are cooperative, you can tell them that you will pass this on to the prosecutor for consideration of a lighter fine. The prosecutors ask that you DO NOT (sic) mention anything else about the fine."
The new policy is unfair in a number of ways. First, I don't feel the city is not working hard enough to make the fine increase public. If the city is going to bump the price by $800, fine, there isn't much the public can do, but the city owes it to people to make them aware of the huge increase.
Secondly, the city needs to come up with a legal definition of what is unreasonable. Leaving it up to the individual responding police officers is unfair and subjective. What other city codes and laws allow police to determine when a nuisance has occurred?
Thirdly, it is not like parties have become an epidemic in the city. Szakmeister said calls responding to parties in the last three years have decreased while enforcement has gone up. Instead of City Council caving in to a few disgruntled citizens complaining about some punks blasting 50 Cent on Friday night, maybe the council should focus on the alarmingly increasing drug trade in Fort Collins or violent attacks at parties. Those are things that significantly decrease the quality of life in the city.

Chris is the opinion editor for the Collegian.