Party next door. Would you have called the cops??
By Tanika
@Tanika (632)
Australia
June 19, 2007 10:36am CST
Hiya All, Last Friday night there was an impromptu teenage party thrown next door to me. It was pretty big and besides from the extremely loud music, there was people shouting obscenities at each other that I would be banned for listing here and breaking bottles and also there was 'hoons' out on the street revving up their cars. It was still very loud at 4am Saturday morning when I finally fell asleep.
I was having a moral dilemma as to whether I should call the police or not because to put it bluntly - I have been to many of these occasions in my younger years.
So there I am laying in bed, which was less than 10 metres from the party, going over the following thoughts - Firstly and foremost of course was the fact that my 3 year old daughter was also as close to the action as I was, but thankfully she is a pretty good sleeper and although she was a little restless it didn't wake her up completely. Then I am thinking, what right do I have to call the police when I too have been in the heart of the action many times. In the end I fell asleep thinking about it and didn't call the cops.
I think I am a pretty tolerant neighbour and I hardly ever complain about anything much. At midnight I was thinking that this party was pretty loud but surely they'd quieten it down by 2ish. Then at 3.30 when there was no sign of quietening down that is when I was seriously thinking of calling the police. If my daughter had been woken up fully then I would have been more annoyed I think.
Anyway my questions to you are what would you have done?
Were you a little wild in your teenage years? Have you ever been to this sort of party?
Do you think you would have called the police?
4 people like this
16 responses
@wachit14 (3595)
• United States
20 Jun 07
My next door neighbor has six children. They are all grown up now and married with kids of their own, but when they were teenagers, they had some wild parties when their parents were away. I have to say that I personally never called the cops on them. They were my next door neighbors and I didn't want to start trouble over a few isolated incidents. However, other people did complain and the cops did have to come on occasion to break it up. I had a party once when I was a teenager, when my parents were away, but it never got out of hand like that. I think this time of year lots of kids have parties because of graduation so if there are isolated incidents like this one I'm not sure that calling the cops is really warranted unless someone is in danger.
@wavelander (1526)
• Portugal
20 Jun 07
It depends if it was regulary, or if it was too loud!
People have the right to have fun unless they invade someone else's privacy or liberty.
1 person likes this
@samtaylorskykierajen (7977)
• Canada
20 Jun 07
No I would have been like you and although I may have been annoyed because I couldn't get to sleep because of the noise or worried about my children sleeping , I wouldn't have called the cops . I believe that most of us at some point or another have been to a party like this at some point growing up and never gave much thought about the neighbors at the time . If it was going on everynight then I would understand if you told them that you were trying to sleep and they ignored you but the fact that it was a one night thing and you didn't call them to ask them to quiet down would make me feel the same as you in the fact that although I may have thought about it but I wouldn't have done it . I prefer to handle things myself without involving the cops unless I have no other choice .
1 person likes this
@eachen2002 (889)
• United States
20 Jun 07
I have called the cops before especially when it's get late.I too went to a wild parties when I was younger and was told to quite down.I had a neighbor who used to do the same thing until she had to start getting up early to go to work on Saturday's.Now she ends her parties quite a bit earlier.
@lovegillian (36)
• China
20 Jun 07
I were a little wild in my teenage years also.
I had been to this sort of party.
And now, I think I would call the cops.
1 person likes this
@magikrose (5429)
• United States
20 Jun 07
I was never allowed to go to any parties as a teenager. I hated it. Honestly since my husband has to go to work Iwould have called the cops. I realise that school is out and they want to celebrate but that dosnt give them the right to dis-respect the neighbors and cause a ruccus.
1 person likes this
@magica (3707)
• Bulgaria
20 Jun 07
My teen age wasnt so wild. I was a quet person and i rarely made noisy parties. But the neighbours above us are drunkards. From this kind of drunkards who like to make a lot of noise.They invite very often noisy companies and the music and the screams continue all the night.And they are not teens, they are adult people. No, i dont call the caps.And dont think that theese drankards will react adequately to a normal conversation about the problem. I can only condemn about their "parties".
1 person likes this
@teufelskind (813)
• United States
20 Jun 07
Well I think once it got later I would have called 4 am is crazy dont get me wrong I have partyed in my time but 4 in the morning is crazy it is disrespectful to others so yes once it hit like 1:30 or 2 I would have.
1 person likes this
@tammyr (5946)
• Etowah, Tennessee
19 Jun 07
Where were the parents? I would have called then or go over and ask that they settle down some. I would tell them that is late and they are loud and someone is going to end up sending the police to them.
If that did not help I would have called the police.
My neighbors had a party some time ago. They called me and told me they had some friends over and if they got loud, to give them a call, before calling the police. I assured them that I could barely hear the music and I cold not hear them.
I gain some respect for them, and if I ever decide to have a bunch of people over late into the night, I will give them the same consideration. Although we do not drink and I doubt we would be very loud, I do have kids (pre-teens) over from time to time and they can be very loud!!LOL
1 person likes this
@misheleen73 (6037)
• United States
19 Jun 07
Although we have all been there, it doesn't make it right. I work as a 911 dispatcher and have seen how those parties can quickly get out of hand. 3 in the morning is way too late for that. People have to respect their neighbors. The police here will go to a noise complaint at 1 in the afternoon if the noise is loud enough to bother neighbors. Teenagers need to learn responsibility too. If they got away with it that time, it will happen again. They'll think, "cool, we have a place to party where no one cares" Trust me, I've seen it many times. We have our "frequent flyers" that are always somewhere causing a ruckous. I'd say, next time, if there is a next time. You should definitely call.
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
20 Jun 07
yea i think i would-especially if they were pulling an all nighter and being obnoxious about it.
i have a sick mom in the house and i wouldn't put up with that noise all night.
parties like that get shut down pretty fast in my area though.the police love passing out noise fines.
1 person likes this
@kodie420 (872)
• Canada
20 Jun 07
Ya thats kind of a hard one because if you phone the cops then you'll most likely having bigger problems with their family. I have that happen here to where I live and I can only put up with so much before Ill go out and say something. I know I have partyed alot in my life but me and my friends always had enough brains to do it outside of town or at least where we wouldnt bother are neibours. I would go over and say something to the parents and just explain you got young children and if the problem keeps presisting then you have all rights to call the cops.
@crazypumpkin (501)
• Philippines
20 Jun 07
I think turning the other cheek is ok so long as this kind of parties only happens once in a blue moon (like during birthdays, thanksgiving, holloween and end of school year parties). But if it's a regular occurence (like weekly or even once a month) then I think you should talk with your neighbors about that.
1 person likes this
@thrwbckjay67 (2870)
• United States
19 Jun 07
I'm all for teenage exuberance and having a good time, but there's also respect for decency and time. People are trying to sleep at night, too, so I think that after about, or say 1 AM, there would have been issues with the police. I would have gone ahead and made the call. I can't tell you the number of parties I've been to where they got shut down, but I do know that past 1 AM I always see that there should be a little more control in terms of noise and neighbors. The one exception would be to notify all your neighbors and negotiate a way for them to understand the noise and explain to them what is going on. I definitely would have called someone at some point, probably around 1 AM like I said. It's nice to party, and I like parties, but there's a limit to that, too.
1 person likes this
@raman_ant (50)
• India
22 Jun 07
Sometimes late night party really disturb me.they are sometimes so loud that even it is hard to stay inside the room.so that should be stopped. so can only take the help of cops
