The Fight Against Crime: Notes From The Front : Sound Advice on Throwing a Summer Party

Summer just wouldn’t be the same without house parties. All the neighborhood buddies are jammed into the living room with the music blaring and just plain having a good time.

But those same memorable nights can cause headaches for people not loosened up by a few beers.

Yeah, you guessed it--the neighbors call the police.

Police around the Valley agree that when the thermometer rises, so do the weekend calls about parties raging out of control.

To deal with the onslaught of complaints from neighbors seeking peace and quiet, officers in the Foothill Division sometimes send out what they call “party cars.”

The patrol cars usually roam around responding to calls of excessive noise in private homes. Most of the officers are working overtime because the department doesn’t have enough officers to adequately staff the cars every weekend.

Capt. Ronald Bergman of the Foothill Division said his department often has two cars on the festivity-control beat, depending on how many calls are coming in.

On the first visit to a house, officers give a warning, alerting owners that neighbors have complained and advising them to turn the music down.

Usually officers will advise closing windows to keep the noise inside and turning down the stereo’s bass to reduce the thump-boom, thump-boom audible to the neighbors.

But if that isn’t enough to stop the complaints, the patrol makes a second visit. If it does, the party’s over.

There are ways to avoid having police shut down that rollicking party, issue a noise citation and confiscate your stereo.

Bergman offers the following tips:

Always tell your neighbors at least a week before your shindig.

Even if you don’t get along with certain neighbors, make sure you invite them, so that when the urge comes to call the police they may just sigh and let you slide.

Next, keep an eye on the rowdier folks in your party, constantly gauging who might have had too much to drink.

Limit the amount of guests, so that overflow people aren’t boogieing in the streets.

Don’t let underage kids drink. As an adult, you are liable for their actions.

If you sell alcohol or charge an admission fee (such as advertising all the beer one can drink for $5) then you need to apply for a permit from the state office of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

The average citizen can’t get one, however, because they are reserved for nonprofit groups, political parties and other organizations raising money by hosting a sizable gathering.

“There’s nothing wrong with having a party,” said Sgt. George Wright of the North Hollywood Division.

“People have the right to socialize and are going to have parties,” Wright said. “But what the city regulates is anything that amounts to being a business.”

Party sponsors who would like to raise money to defray some of their expenses should instead just pay the tab and endure it.

Occasionally while officers are talking to party-throwers, pedestrians outside start vandalizing cars with graffiti or throwing bricks through windows.

That sort of behavior is guaranteed to make the officers less helpful and downright determined to shut down the party.

“We don’t drive around looking for loud parties, but when we find them we shut them down,” said Bergman.