Outside Gates, MPD Noise Citations on the Rise
Six Issued to Townhouse Residents Since August; Violations Bring Fines, Arrest Records
On Aug. 31, while her roommates hosted a party in the backyard of their O Street townhouse, Jenna Kelly (COL ’10) was charged with a 61D noise citation. A $35 fine and an arrest on Kelly’s record came with it.
Incidents like this one have become more common this year, according to university officials. It was announced this week that there has been a marked increase in noise citations issued to students by the Metropolitan Police Department.
Six 61D citations have been issued to students in university-owned townhouses so far this academic year, according to an e-mail sent to townhouse residents from the Office of Residence Life. No citations were issued in the last academic year.
The 61D citation is issued for noise violations, which D.C. law defines as excessive noise that disturbs others. The citation carries a minimum $50 fine issued for a noise violation and is recorded as an arrest. Individuals with multiple offenses can be fined up to $300 for multiple offenses. Although not considered a criminal offense, the citations are recorded on criminal records and appear during routine background checks.
MPD noise violations have left students like Kelly with inconvenient blemishes on their records, though Kelly is hopeful that her court appearance to contest the citation will yield a positive result. She was upset that she was cited with the violation when she had only been at the house for 20 minutes before the Metropolitan Police Department arrived, and that the fine was accompanied by an arrest on her criminal record.
“I’m hoping that the hearing process is successful for a lot of people getting the citation,” Kelly said.
According to Kelly, there were additional 61D citations issued to students off campus over Homecoming weekend.
In response to the increase in citations, ResLife sent e-mails to residents of campus-owned townhouses asking them to be careful — especially throughout Homecoming — and warning those students of the consequences of the 61D citation.
The university had previously warned students regarding 61D citations in January.
“The Metropolitan Police Department has informed the university that MPD officers are again authorized — and intend — to issue 61D citations for excessive noise,” an e-mail sent to students in January stated. “Anyone who receives a 61D citation will be required to pay a fine, but most importantly, will have an arrest record. This record will appear on employer background checks.”
A similar e-mail was sent to on-campus residents, warning them of increased patrols and harsher consequences for any misdemeanor over Homecoming weekend.
“You should be made aware that the Metropolitan Police Department will be stepping up patrols throughout the neighborhood, particularly in the evening, and will be looking for (and acting on) issues surrounding open containers, noise, large parties and underage drinking,” Billy Colona, hall director of Copley Hall, said in an e-mail to Copley residents on Sept. 24.
“Throughout the weekend, please be cognizant of your behavior and your level of noise (both on campus and off campus),” Colona said.
Noise violations have also been a problem in off-campus townhouses.
“Over the last year, [the Division of] Student Affairs, Off-Campus Student Life and [the Office of] University Safety have all taken additional steps to educate students about the legal implications of hosting noisy parties or making excessive noise in the streets under the District of Columbia noise ordinance,” said Anne Koester, director of Off-Campus Student Life.
This year, the university created the Student Neighborhood Assistance Program. According to the OCSL website, SNAP receives complaints about noise from neighbors and responds to the problem at the reported location. The complaint is reported to OCSL and punishments for the students involved are then determined by OCSL following the incident.
“The university has also employed the Student Neighborhood Assistance Program … to proactively monitor and moderate potential student-related issues in the neighborhood before they become problems or violations of the noise ordinance,” Koester said.
MPD could not be reached for comment.
Sep 29 2009 at 12:20 p.m.
Someone should really look hard at the legal side of this. A few years ago, MPD was arresting kids in large numbers for open container violations. Someone realized that the violation itself only warranted a citation. It led to a class action and a whole lot of Georgetown students getting their arrest records expunged.
This does not seem like an identical situation, but something seems strange about getting an "arrest" on your record but never getting handcuffed, read your rights, put in a police car, or taken to the station. I think that if police actually had to go through the enormous administrative burden of "arresting" people for real, they would not do it for mere noise violations, or at least they would do it much less often.
It's like saying MPD can slap a 3 year prison sentence on people's records without ever putting them in jail. Part of the system requires that law enforcement actually follow through with the enforcement of the sanction it puts on your record, or else there will be none of the appropriate incentive to weigh the costs and benefits of the sanction. Imagine being able to just put incarceration on people's records without actually doing it. Why wouldn't police just always jot down some never-imposed sanction if they would not incur any of the burdens of actually holding people in detention facilities?
Something is very fishy about this. I smell a successful lawsuit against MPD.
Sep 29 2009 at 9:17 p.m.
@Frank You make a strong point, except I believe the disputed arrests to which you refer resulted from charges of underage drinking. A challenge to arrests for underage possession of alcohol was successfully mounted as such an infraction was and remains only a civil offense.
Following that ruling, MPD began creating task forces with the goal of rounding up students regardless of age for carrying an open container of alcohol in public. To my knowledge this was and remains a criminal offense, and in general arrests have stood.
Sep 29 2009 at 10:22 p.m.
El Barto,
You might be right about exactly what went on with that case. (For reference, here is the opinion: http://tinyurl.com/yjuafsp. It does seem to refer to "possession," not "open container" as I had thought.)
After a few seconds of looking around, I found this pdf: http://tinyurl.com/yzrrnam. Looking down at pages 11 and 12, I see that violations can be sanctioned with 10 days imprisonment. So ok, violators can be arrested. Makes sense, I guess. My problem is that they're putting an arrest on people's records when no actual arrest takes place. I've never heard of any law or regulation sanctioning such a manipulation of one's record.
Oct 09 2009 at 2:44 a.m.
If you prefer to be handcuffed and spend the night in jail you can simply ask for it when an officer is giving you a 61D. It takes very little for an officer to process an arrest. The big burden that you mentioned doesn't exist.
61D are a "courtesy" to young people that otherwise would have to spend the night in a place not very comfy for them. You should be grateful to DC police and Georgetown residents.