by RCA Board Member Connie Hartke

A class 3 misdemeanor
carries up to a $500 fine and stays on your Virginia record forever.  That’s what you’ll be giving your neighbors this
winter if you call the police to ask them to quiet down the party next
door.  This is the current penalty in Fairfax County for a first offense.

The reason this law was adopted is briefly explained in Tom
Jackman’s Washington Post article
, but basically it has to do with a 2009
VA Supreme Court ruling about a case in Virginia Beach.   On
December 3 the pendulum swung too far the other way when the Fairfax County
Board of Supervisors adopted a temporary noise
ordinance
for residential areas.
The law is too broad; the penalty for a first offense too
harsh.  But it is what we have for now
and everyone needs to know about it.
Spread the word!  How
unfortunate if a promising young 20-something holding a New Year’s party gets
this misdemeanor.  S/he can eventually
have the record removed from public view, but it will always be there for
government agencies and others who are permitted to see the complete
record.  This young person will have
extra explaining to do when applying for a security clearance.  Some tolerance the night of the party and a face
to face discussion the next day would be a valuable holiday gift.
The Board of Supervisors will be re-examining this law next
year.  What can be done to influence change?  Email your suggestions to ClerktotheBOS@fairfaxcounty.gov.
 Robert
C. Chanaud, Ph.D. has authored a document which
may be useful  to scan for ideas:  “Noise Ordinances –
Tools for Enactment, Modification and Enforcement of a Community Noise
Ordinance
.”  If you don’t have time
to pour through his manual, the following may help give your thoughts
structure:   civil, not criminal; a
practical measure of noise that does not require a machine to measure (e.g.,
decibels); first offense warning followed by increasing fines for multiple
violations, and a process for complaint (can there be a step before a phone
call to the non-emergency police line – some sort of mediation in some cases?). 
Make a note on January’s calendar to offer some suggestions
to the Supervisors.  In the meantime, put
a note about this in emails to friends and do what you can to ensure that no
one accidentally puts a criminal mark on a neighbor’s record because they did
not realize the full ramification of a late night call to the police asking
them to quiet down the party next door.

Wishing you all a safe and relatively quiet holiday season!