BREA : City Council Votes to Ban ‘Flyer Parties’

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to ban advertised parties where guests pay hosts a fee for admission.

“Flyer parties,” as they are commonly known, are usually advertised to minors through flyers, Police Lt. Bill Lentini said. The parties usually promise guests all the beer they can drink for a fee of $3 to $5.

“Two things happen,” Lentini said. “Either the party gets out of hand and the neighbors call us or the host calls when people come because they didn’t intend to provide all that beer anyway.

“We wind up, at the taxpayers’ expense, basically providing security to a party for a host that has a business enterprise in a residential area,” he said.

Within the past two years in Brea and Yorba Linda, one person has died and two people have been seriously injured at flyer parties, Lentini said.

“The problem at flyer parties is that they are an open invitation for everyone who wants to go crazy,” he said. “Guests are often unknown to hosts, and when they operate under the cloak of anonymity, it tends to loosen the boundaries of what they might not normally do.”

The ordinance will exempt charity, political or religious fund-raising parties.

In April, the council voted unanimously to charge homeowners if police are called to parties more than once in order to lower noise levels and keep the peace.

That new policy, however, has resulted in no new funds for police coffers, Lentini said. Warnings to hosts at out-of-control parties that they will be billed for a second police visit have helped deter repeat offenses, he said.

Violators of the new ordinance could face a fine of up to $1,000 and a maximum of six months in jail.