Cops say ‘Keep it down’

Noise complaints are the most frequent “quality of life” calls to the city’s 3-1-1 help line, so cops in the 106th Precinct in Ozone Park decided to set the tone over the Memorial Day weekend.
“Operation Confiscation” was announced at the Precinct Community Council meeting on Wednesday, May 14, according to Captain Joseph Courtesis.
“We observed a surge in noise complaints to 3-1-1 and to our switchboard, and acted on them,” he said.
Courtesis and several cops under his command showed off a mountain of large speakers and electronics in front of the precinct garage at 103-53 101st Street in Ozone Park on Tuesday, May 27.
The volume violators can get their equipment back— after they settle-up with the courts and get a release from the District Attorney.
“We only confiscated the equipment if we got repeated complaints for a single location,” Courtesis explained. “We wanted to be reasonable - we asked people to turn the sound down, but they turned it back up and we had to return,” he continued.
One crew of DJ’s, with professional equipment, was warned twice before their gear was confiscated after a third visit by cops. “It was in the wee hours [of the morning] and the whole block was vibrating,” a police source said.
Cops said that even for block parties with permits, the noise level has to be reasonable, and the party’s over at 9 p.m. “But it’s really about the noise level more than the hour,” a Community Affairs officer explained.
The most notable exhibit was a so-called “boom bike.” The child’s bicycle was fitted with huge speakers, powerful solid-state amplifiers and electronics, powered by huge batteries.
“It was being operated by a 14- or 15-year-old boy who couldn’t get it out of the middle of Liberty Avenue and 111th Street at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday night [May 24] — it was too heavy for him,” the source said.
The operation was declared a resounding success — noise complaints were down 16 percent and all quality-of-life issues were reduced by 20 percent, compared to last Memorial Day weekend.
It was so successful that a detective was dispatched from downtown, “to see what the hubbub was about.”
When shown the confiscated bicycle, his jaw dropped. “You could probably power my whole house on that,” he said in amazement.