TUSTIN : Rowdy Party Givers May Face Penalties

The City Council tonight will consider an ordinance that would make rowdy party throwers responsible for paying fines and reimbursing the city if officers are repeatedly called to the residence.

If passed, the ordinance would make residents subject to charges for police services if officers are required to visit a home or apartment more than once to deal with the same event.

City documents show that last year the Police Department responded to more than 1,600 disturbance calls, many of them second and third response calls, costing the city about $40,000.

“Cities all over California are experiencing the same thing where you get these large parties that are loud and the police have to go back a couple of times to break them up. That is a real drain on the Police Department,” City Manager William A. Huston said.

Officials have yet to set a billing schedule, but documents show that disturbance calls usually require two officers, at $35 an hour, to spend at least 25 minutes on the scene.

When police are responding to a second call, more officers are dispatched, Capt. Steve Foster said.

Huston said the rates will probably be higher than the actual cost of the police intervention.

“You want to get (fines) high enough so that they will serve their intended purpose,” Huston said. “With this type of ordinance . . . you want to make your message clear, and that is, if we have to keep coming back it is going to cost money.”

Huston adds that the city is not out to make money from the ordinance but to persuade residents through the pocketbook to keep social gatherings under control.

Tustin is not the first city to consider billing residents for multiple disturbance calls.

Newport Beach passed a similar ordinance nearly two years ago, and officials there said it is working, but not as well as they expected.

“It is successful in getting funds to reimburse us for answering second and third (police) calls, but it is still not reducing the first-time response calls to parties,” Deputy City Manager Kenneth J. Delino said.

One problem with the ordinance, however, is that Tustin officials are not sure whether it will stand up in court.

According to City Atty. James G. Rourke, state legislation authorizes counties to enact ordinances to recover costs from multiple calls for police services, but there is no mention about whether cities can adopt similar regulations.