50 signatures reached
To: The Government
Give power to the police to deal with noise polution on the spot
Most of the money you spend on council tax goes to running our police forces. Although it is amazing just how little power these bodies have. It may also surprise you to know that it is your local council that decides what the police can and cannot do and most councils (probably all) have removed from the police the power to deal with noise problems. This means that if you call them about a domestic noise problem they will flatly refuse to come out. Noise pollution is the strongest weapon in the hands of disruptive and antisocial people because it is so hard to get the authorities to do anything about while they will not let the police take action.
It it time it is enshrined in national law that the police are to deal with noise problems on the spot and that local authorities cannot remove this power. While many may argue that this will cause more work for the police once it is a given that you cannot get away with making a racket relying on the apathy of your local authority and the over complex procedure of making a complaint and getting it dealt with the problem will become greatly reduced.
Why is this important?
As someone who has had to put up with noise I have been horrified by the apathy of the authorities. despite being able to hear noise from a household that was not my direct neighbor the police could not act. If you contact the council department responsible for dealing with the problem you find that you have to make a formal complaint during normal working hours which means that the culprits are notified of YOUR complaint even before the local authority bothers to collect evidence which they will then want to do.
A much simpler solution is that the police are called and that they witness and deal with the problem on the spot and perhaps leave until later a return to the property to confiscate equipment used to make excessive noise. In every neighborhood there are people who have to go to work and it is unacceptable that they should have to put up with excessive noise.
I personally have witnessed where a noise complaint has been made it has resulted in retaliation from the perpetrators in the form of damage to property resulting in £1000's of damage done and the victim has had to move with the police unwilling or unable to intervene and the local authority uninterested and other neighbors too worried of retaliation to offer supporting evidence.
Many people do not report noise problems and suffer in silence because they FEAR retaliation which is a highly realistic risk.
