# Woman plays music loudly, gets noise complaint, writes WaPo piece **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 29, 2018, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019 "2018-05-29T03:57:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![xcalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/5daacb/32.png) [@xcalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xcalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/81 "2018-06-01T04:42:37Z")
Isn’t personally attacking a participant one dem logical fallacies I hear the kids talk about? > [@septimus](#): > > OP: Is it your claim that the incident wasn’t racist, or that the woman’s medical training gave her no special expertise to make a judgement? On the first point, read my response to Little Nemo. To the second I’ll post another follow-up. > > I do note that you have consistently claimed racism was not racism on this Board. For example: > [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20471809&postcount=79](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20471809&postcount=79) > > The first thing I do when I see peculiar comments from a Doper is Search for mentions of Obama. I saw the following—not _proof_ that **treis** is himself racist, but since almost every single top American politician is a millionaire, the following, if not racist, is mid-bogglingly stupid > I’ll let **Diogenes the Cynic** ridicule this confused (and possibly racist) ideation: > > I agree with much of this but not the first two. The woman may have overreacted, but how was she in the wrong? By playing music too loud? > > And my guess is that had the music player been white, neighbor would have contacted the player, if anyone, not the police. That’s just my guess, but thousands of incidents lend credence to this guess. ---
**Author:** ![drivekiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@drivekiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drivekiller)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/82 "2018-06-01T04:51:25Z")
> [@Jake\_Bullet\_Traffic\_Control](#): > > …Some people just _really_ don’t like face-to-face confrontation. Gun ownership is common. Why risk a bullet? ---
**Author:** ![xcalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/5daacb/32.png) [@xcalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xcalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/83 "2018-06-01T04:51:43Z")
Cops don’t eff around. They are alert and on guard, including hand near weapon, no matter how minor the incident. Cops die on simple traffic stops, so they proceed with their safety as a higher concern than your comfort level. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/84 "2018-06-01T04:55:45Z")
> [@Jake\_Bullet\_Traffic\_Control](#): > > I’m white and when I played my music too loud the first I heard about it was a warning letter from my local council off the back of a noise complaint filed by my white neighbours. They didn’t approach me once. Some people just _really_ don’t like face-to-face confrontation. > > Verdict: Not racism, and _certainly_ not worth an article in the Washington Post. I don’t know what a local council is, but I can tell from the rest of your writing you are not in the United States. Things (neighbor relations, policing, courts, etc) are different in different places. Along with that, with all due respect, I have a hard time believing that anyone can really “get” the unique racial issues and history we have enough to come to a “not racism” conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/85 "2018-06-01T05:02:24Z")
> [@xcalibre](#): > > Cops don’t eff around. They are alert and on guard, including hand near weapon, no matter how minor the incident. Cops die on simple traffic stops, so they proceed with their safety as a higher concern than your comfort level. Every thing you said applies to “civilians,” too. We all take risks. We are all going to die and many of us in unpredictable ways. I guess we all should pack heat and stand at the ready because life is just dangerous and we should all approach everyone based on fear. FWIW, what you say doesn’t apply to all cops. Some of them let their guards down and participate in their communities. I’m not saying they should all be shooting hoops or taking up boxing while on duty or anything, but not all them play into this paranoid “us versus them” killing machine thing you’ve described. And I’ve had to deal with cops over 20 times over the past 2 years due to a mental illness in my family, and my experiences have run the gamut. Most of the guys are pretty casual in their approach. ---
**Author:** ![xcalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/5daacb/32.png) [@xcalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xcalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/86 "2018-06-01T05:05:53Z")
> **[Florida suspect shot police officer then ran him over](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/21/police-shooting-florida/20723027/)** > > Officer has been identified as Charles "Charlie K" Kondek, a 17-year veteran of Tarpon Springs Police Department. ---
**Author:** ![xcalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/5daacb/32.png) [@xcalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xcalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/87 "2018-06-01T05:15:48Z")
I hope you are not suggesting that everyday civilians face dangerous situations with the same frequency and density as police officers. Cops might get casual once they have assessed the situation, but we are talking about seconds into an incident. The public has this strange delusion that cops should subjectively determine how dangerous a situation is in mere seconds. > [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > Every thing you said applies to “civilians,” too. We all take risks. We are all going to die and many of us in unpredictable ways. I guess we all should pack heat and stand at the ready because life is just dangerous and we should all approach everyone based on fear. FWIW, what you say doesn’t apply to all cops. Some of them let their guards down and participate in their communities. I’m not saying they should all be shooting hoops or taking up boxing while on duty or anything, but not all them play into this paranoid “us versus them” killing machine thing you’ve described. And I’ve had to deal with cops over 20 times over the past 2 years due to a mental illness in my family, and my experiences have run the gamut. Most of the guys are pretty casual in their approach. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/88 "2018-06-01T06:54:09Z")
> [@xcalibre](#): > > I hope you are not suggesting that everyday civilians face dangerous situations with the same frequency and density as police officers. Probably. Policing hasn’t gotten more dangerous, the police have. It was an oft-cited statistic that 98% of law enforcement never had to fire their weapons over the course of their career. There’s hasn’t been a spike in LEO deaths (overall, deaths have been _decreasing_ since the 1970s) but they’re much more likely to shoot someone in recent years. On this topic, a similar incident’s civil suit was resolved recently. FL sheriff’s deputies shot and killed someone in his garage after responding to a noise complaint. The family filed a wrongful death suit and was awarded $4 by the jury - one dollar for funeral expenses and one dollar for each of his three now-fatherless children. This contemptuous act was compounded by the judge, who over-rode the ruling to give the family nothing. Why the lawsuit? According to the deputies, the man was armed and apparently when he shut his garage door on them they assumed he was going to shoot them through the door, so they fired four shots into the door first, hitting him once in the head and twice center mass. The family’s lawyer counters that while the homeowner had a gun, it was in his back pocket and unloaded, not in his hand. According to the sheriff’s office, he _likely_ put the gun in his back pocket after being shot in the head, and the jury agreed. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Fuji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Fuji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/89 "2018-06-01T11:00:35Z")
> [@MagicEyes](#): > > There are many reasons why the neighbor called the police instead–maybe the neighbor was sick, or was wearing holey pajamas and didn’t feel like getting dressed. Maybe they have social anxiety, or they don’t like confrontation, or maybe they knew this person and didn’t feel comfortable talking to her, or they knew her and didn’t want to damage their relationship by asking her to turn the music down. Maybe they don’t care if someone who’s not like them gets hassled by law enforcement. Maybe they have a standing grudge against their neighbor and this gives them a cost-free opportunity to make their life a little worse. Maybe they don’t care if their neighbor is hauled off to prison as yet another casualty in the War on Drugs that’s been ongoing for half a century now. Maybe they don’t care if their neighbor is shot dead in their own home by an unaccountable, trigger-happy, over-militarized police force. > [@](#): > > It’s not anybody’s business. You’re right. In fact, that’s what they really should be teaching in Civics & Government classes in schools as the _de facto_ American credo. Fuck all that _e pluribus unum_, “justice for all”, “home of the brave” bullshit. > [@](#): > > It’s totally fine to call the police if you’re not comfortable asking your neighbor to turn their music down. I’ve done it before, and I would do it again. Pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/90 "2018-06-01T11:58:42Z")
You should ask your neighbor to turn the music down if the music is borderline loud and perhaps the neighbor doesn’t realize he or she is disturbing others. If the music is just blasting then you’re already dealing with a belligerent prick, so it’s a police matter. And those who say noise complaints aren’t serious have never worked a night job. If I’m jarred awake by super loud music, I’m not getting dressed and going outside. I’m making a phone call. And in that moment, a part of me hopes the asshole gets shot. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/91 "2018-06-01T12:50:27Z")
Yay! You can join Steophuckface as a group of now 2 people who think people who play loud music should be shot. What is wrong with you? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/92 "2018-06-01T13:31:34Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > … > And that’s the only definition of “white knighting” that I participate in. You think I deserve punishment for doing the right thing. > > And, yeah, it’s a joke. The message is still that I’m doing something wrong by my “white knight act.” Yes, we all want to be like you. For Halloween. ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kearsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/93 "2018-06-01T13:39:27Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Do the make sense as the very first things out of the officer’s mouth? Why would he be expecting trouble of the kind that would warrant these precautions, for a noise complaint? I would expect something more along the lines of “Excuse me, ma’am, there have been complaints about loud music this afternoon, apparently from this apartment” and going on from there. Why the up-front hostility and cross-questioning? Full disclosure, I am not now and have never been a police officer. If this is SOP in this situation then I’m flummoxed about the reasoning behind it. Maybe you’ve heard of all the police officer shootings across the US? I’d imagine that any sane person would go into ANY interaction with their guard up. THAT is a product of how far I feel this society has fallen. I’m not going to judge upon who’s shoulder’s blame lies. There is blame for all As most of the rest of this thread, I see nothing wrong/biased/race based AT ALL in the interaction. What I do see is a cry baby who has found a voice in the cry of race. Much like wolf. If it continues, it will carry no weight. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/94 "2018-06-01T13:45:30Z")
> [@Kearsen](#): > > Maybe you’ve heard of all the police officer shootings across the US? I’d imagine that any sane person would go into ANY interaction with their guard up. About how many police officers have been shot this year? 100s? 1000s? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/95 "2018-06-01T14:14:18Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Sigh. You too? I thought maybe that Christianity thing you profess to believe in meant something. The Bible [says to defend the poor and oppressed](https://www.openbible.info/topics/protecting_the_helpless). > > And that’s the only definition of “white knighting” that I participate in. “Defending the poor and oppressed”? This woman is a doctor, and her oppression consists of having a cop tell her to turn that shit down because it is bothering the neighbors. If you wanna proof-text, I got a verse for you. [Matthew 23:1-5](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+23%3A1-5&version=NIV). Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/96 "2018-06-01T15:11:55Z")
> [@Kearsen](#): > > Maybe you’ve heard of all the police officer shootings across the US? I’d imagine that any sane person would go into ANY interaction with their guard up. THAT is a product of how far I feel this society has fallen. It does concern me, especially that the police shot that I see most of the time are in ambush style attacks. They don’t have a chance to have their guard up in an interaction, they are sitting there in a restaurant, in their squad car, and then, BAM! they are shot dead. I do not see how escalating and being more confrontational and fearful in interactions with civilians will improve their chances of evading an ambush attack, but, given the frustration that people feel about abuses of police powers in mistreating civilians, I certainly see how it increases the chances of one. Even if it is the case that civilian safety is a far lower priority than officer safety, their actions are increasing the danger to themselves and to their fellow officers, not decreasing them. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/97 "2018-06-01T15:16:15Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Yay! You can join Steophuckface as a group of now 2 people who think people who play loud music should be shot. > > What is wrong with you? If **adaher** is wrong, I don’t want to be Right! ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kearsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/98 "2018-06-01T15:20:28Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > About how many police officers have been shot this year? 100s? 1000s? In your mind, if you knew of 1, would that change your stance? > **[Police Deaths From Violence Are on the Rise](https://www.americansecurityforce.com/blog/police-deaths/)** > > 84% of the 22 police deaths in January & February this year were caused by violence. It is the highest rate in the last 10 years. | American Security Force Quite a rise from previous years. ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kearsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/99 "2018-06-01T15:22:02Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > It does concern me, especially that the police shot that I see most of the time are in ambush style attacks. They don’t have a chance to have their guard up in an interaction, they are sitting there in a restaurant, in their squad car, and then, BAM! they are shot dead. > > I do not see how escalating and being more confrontational and fearful in interactions with civilians will improve their chances of evading an ambush attack, but, given the frustration that people feel about abuses of police powers in mistreating civilians, I certainly see how it increases the chances of one. > > Even if it is the case that civilian safety is a far lower priority than officer safety, their actions are increasing the danger to themselves and to their fellow officers, not decreasing them. You should provide the police with a pamphlet explaining such things to them so they can change their S.O.P. ---
**Author:** ![Inbred\_Mm\_domesticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/aca169/32.png) [@Inbred\_Mm\_domesticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inbred_Mm_domesticus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019/100 "2018-06-01T15:38:53Z")
A loud neighbor is generally a person with poorer impulse control. This is the single biggest factor in criminal violence. It’s probably best to call the police for noise complaints. In NYC, 311 calls are for noise complaints. A recent analysis showed a larger number of complaints along the borders of ethnically divided neighborhoods. It could be racism or a lack of appreciation for another culture’s music tastes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-plays-music-loudly-gets-noise-complaint-writes-wapo-piece/815019.md?page=6)