Only problem, I was not having a party. The people next door came over and we were outside cooking hot dogs, for dinner, at dinner time. He said we were in violation because he could hear us laughing from his car.

The officer informed me that the only way to avoid getting a nuisance party ticket is to close all your windows and doors at dark and not to have more people outside than you live with. It sounds more like a curfew than a noise ordinance.

Thanks officer D

4/2/2006 1:11:24 AM

that sucks dude.

4/2/2006 1:21:58 AM

i thought it had to be after 11

4/2/2006 1:22:32 AM

I made that argument. The noise ordinance is after 11, thats not the charge he gave me.

I also asked him point blank if there was a complaint and he said there was none.

4/2/2006 1:26:16 AM

the real reason was your broke down '97 Land Rover in the driveway

4/2/2006 1:29:52 AM

Hey great, the RPD overstepping their bounds and acting like total faggots

I must say, I'm surprised

4/2/2006 1:34:24 AM

thats fucking retarded, i hope you lawyer up and fight it

4/2/2006 1:40:19 AM

you must have been a huge dick to the cop for him to give you a ticket for that.

i really doubt a cop would write you a ticket if you were cool about it.

4/2/2006 1:58:19 AM

I was not rude at all. I was actually more polite to him than most people that I encounter. He gave me the old "we are just doing our jobs" thing.

4/2/2006 3:38:21 AM

9:45pm is not "dinner time"

4/2/2006 5:31:28 AM

hahaha id go to court and make sure the judge puts the cop on notice. i had to go for a bullshit ticket once that i got arrested for, and after i told the story... the judge ended up getting all pissed off and telling the cop that he NEVER wanted "to see this crap" in his courtroom EVER again and totally dismissed it all

then i would sue

4/2/2006 10:55:46 AM

RPD has problems

4/2/2006 11:16:11 AM

just once i wanna see them use the NPO against a 5 year olds birthday party next door when im trying to take a nap at 5pm

MY REPOSE!!!1

4/2/2006 11:24:59 AM

Quote :

"The noise ordinance is after 11, thats not the charge he gave me. "

So, what was the charge?

4/2/2006 1:19:55 PM

Sure people make mistakes ... but it's kinda wrong when they are stubborn about admitting a mistake and write a ticket for it, instead of letting you off with a "warning". I'm kinda with jackleg ... bring this to a courtroom and see how pissed off a judge gets for wasting the court's time.

4/2/2006 1:33:11 PM

^^can you not read? it is clearly stated in the thread title.

4/2/2006 3:40:16 PM

Quote :

"bring this to a courtroom and see how pissed off a judge gets for wasting the court's time."

4/2/2006 4:37:18 PM

Smath

why aren't you defending the cops?

4/2/2006 6:00:30 PM

nm. Got the NPO and noise ordinance confused as one in the same.

[Edited on April 2, 2006 at 6:44 PM. Reason : .]

4/2/2006 6:43:50 PM

^^why would i defend the cops for something like this?

4/2/2006 8:38:13 PM

Quote :

"RPD has problems"

4/2/2006 9:47:13 PM

Call a news station.

They will eat this up. Seriously. They're desperate for things to air, and stories like this about the police harrassing normal people doing nothing wrong makes for great material. I can hear the headline now . . . "Thinking about grilling a few bugers in the backyard with your kids? THINK AGAIN! More at eleven!"

And I gurantee that if it does happen that cop will get his ass handed to him by his superiors.

4/3/2006 3:51:52 AM

Quote :

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."

Sry. Loved the movie.

4/3/2006 5:30:53 AM

Quote :

"you must have been a huge dick to the cop for him to give you a ticket for that. i really doubt a cop would write you a ticket if you were cool about it."

of course it is always the citizen that is the huge dick, NEVER the cops

they would never do such a thing

you better wisen up my friend

4/3/2006 8:10:51 AM

Quote :

"9:45pm is not "dinner time""

4/3/2006 8:17:25 AM

I mean the outcome would have been the same had I been a dick. I was very polite with the guy because since I really was not doing anything I figured there was a chance he would not be a douchebag. If I do contest this charge (which I plan to) the cop will likely be in court and I dont need to stand out to him as a guy that was a total dick.

4/3/2006 9:00:45 AM

so fucking stupid and such a waste of time for everyone


they really need to concentrate on more important things


they must have too many cops on staff if they have time for this shit

your tax dollars hard at work

YAY

4/3/2006 9:13:41 AM

are you black?

no?

Then I just can't imagine why that happened.

4/3/2006 9:19:21 AM

i am trying to figure out ways we could get the RPD to lighten up

getting the news involved is a good idea. i actually wrote a lengthly letter to the N&O about the worthiness of a story on it, but never heard anything.

other things i've thought about is getting someone to follow draughon around shooting video just to see how ridiculous the tickets are.

i also think everyone should start calling in stupid stuff....like a kid's birthday party as mentioned before or someone mowing grass while you are trying to take a nap.

4/3/2006 9:57:37 AM

why don't you talk to the ACLU here at state?

they can get the NC chapter to litigate the case for you and hopefully get the goddamned ordinace out of the city charter.

in fact, they've been waiting for a prime case like yours for a while.

they're meeting tomorrow night at 630 in the talley SORC office and you can give all the details to them.

4/3/2006 11:36:11 AM

check your PM.

http://www.thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=269165

http://www.thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=360676

more info on the NPO and the ACLU working on this... seriously do talk to us about it - we can help you out and get this fixed for everyone.

4/3/2006 11:39:58 AM

I believe your story that you did nothing wrong. I would also like to guess that the cop that gave you the ticket is relatively small in stature, and young in appearance. Maybe 24 or so. New to the force, from app.

He gave me and my roommate a ticket for the npo also. happened a week ago. We were having a party, but it wasn't anywhere near out of hand. We had about 40 people or so in a very large house relative to most student living. There were no complaints from the neighbors, he explicitly told me this. There were maybe two people outside on the porch smoking a cigarette, everyone else was in the house.

When he knocked on the door, I answered figuring that I'd be able to talk to him reasonably about it. He told me he's new to the force, and that his whole job is basically to ride around and look for parties. After talking with him very politely for a long time he told me I was going to get a ticket. I made one comment, "that's funny," and he immediately put me in handcuffs and put me in his cop car. My roommate then walked outside to see what the cop had to say. My roommate did not say A SINGLE WORD, and the cop puts him in handcuffs and in the car as well. He proceeds to take us to jail and arrest us for the npo.

I overheard him say to a fellow cop that he was having a slow night, and he was just riding around looking for parties. Noise could barely be heard from across the street of our apartment. I mean you COULD hear some noise, but you can also hear SOME noise in the library, I mean it wasn't disruptive. He also said there was trash on the ground, and that we were blocking the road from the "free flow of traffic." There was a single beer can in the lawn that could've been there for weeks, placed by any of our neighbors, or ourselves, and we live on a small street that is also congested with people parking on both sides of the road. It is hard for me to convey how ridiculous of a situation this was. This cop had no discretion whatsoever. It's seriously like he's trying to pad his resume by getting as many arrests as he can, but the only assignment he has is to "ride around looking for parties."

I mean he took me and my roommate to jail! My roommate didn't say one word, after 20 minutes of very polite talking I said casually, "that's funny." This was so ridiculous.

4/3/2006 12:17:51 PM

i remember they used to have a cop that it was his sole job to do that, and then they fired him cause he was being a dick. Guess they brought another one in.

4/3/2006 12:24:46 PM

I agree with you that this officer is not using good discretion with his authority. The fact is however city hall is responsible for the actions of the police department. The officer is doing what he was told to do no matter how much we disagree with the way he is doing it. I think anyone who believes this is some rouge officer on a power trip is missing the point. He is doing what he has been ordered to do and we need to give our local government the oppertunity to either disagree with what is happening and change it, or to affirm he is doing what they want at which point we have to ask why our our elected officials (in district D) want students treated as second class citizens.

I have lived here long enough to remember a previous officer who had the same assignment and was re-assigned after relations between the students living near campus reached a boiling point with our local government.

The way I see it this is not community oriented policing, it is draconian and predatory enforcement of a vague ordinance. If the officer thought we were being loud he could have simply asked me to kill any music and keep everyone quieter. (like I said there were no complaints by any of the neighbors because they were at my house, he also told me their were none) We would have been gone to the bar by 11 anyway, we were just cooking some dinner outside and having a few beers BEHIND the house.

Ten or less people anywhere does not constitute a party. As a homewoner, PROPERTY taxpayer, & voter I am livid over this whole situation because I cant entertain on my patio and its summer.



[Edited on April 3, 2006 at 12:50 PM. Reason : ]

4/3/2006 12:43:49 PM

^ Keep us up to date on how this plays out. I'm hoping you get a good chance to "stick it to the man". I like to grill outside as well and I'd hate to have to fight off a cop with my grill tongs.

4/3/2006 12:52:15 PM

i think the main thing here is the time that you got the ticket

4/3/2006 12:52:50 PM

I was at the relay for life and the cops came out and enforced the NPO on them.. i thought that was pretty rediculous... they basically had to cancel all the events they had going on...

4/3/2006 1:04:31 PM

I think the age angle needs to worked if possible. I can't imagine them trying to pull this bullshit off with 40-year-old families who might be having a family get-together.

4/3/2006 1:10:40 PM

^ when was that?
I was at relay for life for a while.

4/3/2006 1:11:02 PM

Quote :

"i think the main thing here is the time that you got the ticket"

Are you saying that it's unreasonable to grill hot dogs at 9:45pm in your own back yard?
....joe_schmoe and jbtilley seem to think so.
I think that 9:45pm, or even 10:00pm isn't too late to start dinner, whether being seated at a restaurant or grilling out. ……hell, I've had dinner at 2 in the morning

Quote :

"hahaha id go to court and make sure the judge puts the cop on notice……."

Quote :

"bring this to a courtroom and see how pissed off a judge gets for wasting the court's time."

Quote :

"Call a news station…."

Definitely go to court
Definitely get a good lawyer (ACLU?)
Definitely alert the media (television, radio, and print)


My neighbors grill out...
...often
...ten feet from the street
...with more than a dozen people
...on a weeknight
...with music
...and laughter
...until 1:00am

I don't think the cops have ever said a single thing about it....and trust me, they're around....

[Edited on April 3, 2006 at 1:19 PM. Reason :

4/3/2006 1:18:20 PM

im not sure exactly when, i just heard one of the people in charge talking about it.. im thinking it was around 11 or so though.

4/3/2006 1:22:09 PM

i think a news report would be your best option. call/email all kinds of reporters and stations, don't just settle for one that didnt get back to you. prepare a statement and email it all over the place, even try some consumer-oriented news groups. also try national aclu.

4/3/2006 1:25:18 PM

I went to dinner at Cinelli's in cary last night around 9:30. even in cary where everything closes early you can still have dinner at 9:45. If restaurants stay open b/c there is money to be made from ppl eating dinner at the time, even in a place like Cary, then its not unreasonable to have dinner then. Not that the government should force you to have dinner at what it deems the appropriate hour in the first place.

4/3/2006 1:27:54 PM

i wasn't saying it was unreasonable to cook at 9:45 at all...i was commenting on the fact that it was 9:45 and i thought that noise ordinances didn't kick in until 11:00pm. loud noises are supposed to be a nuisance after a certain time and anyone can get a ticket for that...i thought NPO's regulation of noise coincided with the noise ordinance

4/3/2006 1:31:12 PM

another thing that makes this bothersome is that it was on a saturday. If you can't grill out at 9;45 on final 4 weekend then when the hell can you have people over?

4/3/2006 1:35:08 PM

we should all go have a party in draughon's cul-de-sac while he is out crashing ours

http://msweb01.co.wake.nc.us/realestate/Account.asp?id=0317913&stype=owner&owner=draughon&spg=1&cd=01&loc=3504++PINKHAM+WAY&des=LO78+MITCHELL+MILL+SUB+PH13+BM2002%2D632&pin=1747351864

4/3/2006 1:39:39 PM

I wonder if he's got a pool....anyone got Google Earth?

Quote :

"just once i wanna see them use the NPO against a 5 year olds birthday party next door when im trying to take a nap at 5pm"

Quote :

"i also think everyone should start calling in stupid stuff....like a kid's birthday party as mentioned before or someone mowing grass while you are trying to take a nap."

Quote :

"I think the age angle needs to worked if possible. I can't imagine them trying to pull this bullshit off with 40-year-old families who might be having a family get-together."

I agree.
The ordinance might as well say, "Two or more 12 to 30 year-olds may not assemble outdoors at their home at
any time if they are making enough noise to be heard at the street."
What a load of shit.

Quote :

"why don't you talk to the ACLU here at state?.......they've been waiting for a prime case like yours for a while"

That'd be funny if the cop doing this is, in fact, an uncover ACLU "agent" trying to provoke victims of this
unconstitutional bullshit to come forward....after all, the ACLU can't just up and sue the g0vt...they need
an actual victim first.

\/ You have to download it...and install it....and run it....to have it. I don't have Google Earth
downloaded, installed, nor running.....Which is why I asked if anyone else does.

[Edited on April 3, 2006 at 2:04 PM. Reason : ]

4/3/2006 1:50:34 PM

Quote :

"I wonder if he's got a pool….anyone got Google Earth? "

http://maps.google.com

pothead

4/3/2006 1:53:18 PM

Like I said a few posts up. Posting the officers personal information on the internet is not going to change anything. If anything it will piss him off more. If any of you want this changed it needs to be directed at The City of Raleigh via the courts, public relations, and other means.

4/3/2006 1:54:31 PM

Has anyone bothered looking up the actual ordinance yet?

Found it:

Quote :

" 1. Definition. A nuisance party is a party or other social gathering conducted in the city and which, by reason of the conduct of those persons in attendance, results in any one or more of the following conditions or occurrences: public drinking or drunkenness; public urination or defecation; the unlawful sale, furnishing, or consumption of alcoholic beverages; the unlawful deposit of trash or litter on public or private property; the destruction of public or private property; the generation of pedestrian or vehicular traffic which obstructs the free flow of residential traffic or interferes with the ability to provide emergency services; excessive, unnecessary or unusual loud noise which disturbs the repose of the neighborhood; public disturbances, brawls, fights, quarrels, or any other activity resulting in conditions that annoy, injure or endanger the safety, health, comfort or repose of the neighboring residents, or results in any obscene conduct, or results in any immoral exhibition or indecent exposure by persons at the gathering. 2. Any person being the owner, occupant, tenant or otherwise having any possessory control of any degree of any premises who either sponsors, conducts, hosts, invites, suffers, permits, or continues to allow a gathering to continue which is or becomes a nuisance as described in subsection (a) above is in violation of this section and may be punished by any of the criminal or civil enforcement penalties available to municipalities. Any person attending a nuisance party is also in violation of this section. 3. The Section shall not apply to a gathering held at location holding valid entertainment center permits or any other gathering authorized by this code."

I'm not seeing "heard from the street" anywhere in that.

[Edited on April 3, 2006 at 2:22 PM. Reason : -]

4/3/2006 2:12:31 PM