Noise ordinance law doesn't apply to university

Under the ordinance, which went into effect Jan. 2, Tucson police officers can cite a driver if his amplification system can be heard more than 150 feet from his vehicle.

In the past, in order for a driver to be cited for disturbing the peace, a citizen had to file a complaint with the department, which then had to measure the decibel level of the vehicle's stereo system, said Sgt. Eugene Mejia, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.

"We had very little we could do in the realm of enforcement," Mejia said.

The new ordinance states that an officer only has to be able to prove in court that he was at least 150 feet away from a vehicle and was able to hear that vehicle's stereo.

But because the law is a city ordinance, it does not apply to the University of Arizona campus and cannot be enforced by university police, said Cmdr. Brian Seastone, a university police spokesman.

Former Ward 3 Councilman Michael Crawford proposed the ordinance last June after receiving several calls from citizens.

"We got a bunch of calls from people about cars driving around at 2 o'clock or 3 o'clock in the morning with loud booming stereos and decided something needed to be done," Crawford said.

Crawford said he found similar ordinances at Berkeley and in Tempe, on which he based his proposal.

He said he hopes the new ordinance will give the public more options when they are confronted with a booming stereo.

"If you can hear a stereo from 150 feet away, you can do something about it now," Crawford said.

"It (a loud stereo) is a safety factor when you're in traffic," Mejia said. "If you have to play your music loud enough so that it can be heard 150 feet away, that's unreasonable."

Seastone said that, in the past, there has not been a problem with loud stereo amplification on campus. If a vehicle is creating excessive sound, however, the driver can be cited for disorderly conduct - a class one misdemeanor, Seastone said.