Enforcers get trained in noise detection

What do you mean my music is too loud? You’re standing there and it doesn’t seem to bother you. Who’s complaining? My noisy neighbors?

Such statements are likely heard by Island police and other public officials who enforce Town Code regulations as part of their responsibilities.

Monday, three of those people — Officer Taylor Rando, Senior Building Inspector Reed Karen and code enforcement officer Michael Chih — were working toward their first certification while others were seeking to be re-certified in noise enforcement methods. The press was invited to observe the session that started at the EMS barn.

Those seeking initial certification need to take 12 hours of training split up in three four-hour sessions, while those seeking recertification, required every three years, must take another eight hours of training broken up in two four-hour sessions.

Their guide through the training Monday was Eric Zwerling, not an enforcement officer at all but, in his words, a teacher. He’s director of Rutgers University’s Noise Technical Assistance Center in New Brunswick, N.J.

The well-traveled Mr. Zwerling told the students they are fortunate to live in a beautiful town.

“People come here for a unique quality of life.”

Lovely as it was for locals to hear the compliments about the Island, it wasn’t idle chatter from Mr. Zwerling. Rather it was something of a warning that all they cherish about the Island could be lost to one enemy — noise.

He was there to train them in the important techniques they will need as guardians of the peaceful ambiance.

It isn’t just writing citations for violations, he said. It’s about understanding Town Code and using proper tools to determine whether or not a violation abuses the sensitivities of others and being armed with the knowledge of how to determine if noise exceeds levels beyond what’s written in the Town Code. It’s also learning to appropriately use noise monitors and recording information to accurately determine if there is a legitimate violation.

“This community values our work,” Chief Jim Read said. He has frequently talked about eliciting cooperation, not confrontation, with the public.

It’s less about writing tickets for violations than making people aware they are in violation and eliciting understanding that they need to comply with the Town Code.

For Mr. Zwerling, it’s important that his trainees don’t simply point a noise monitor at the source of a problem and declare  the sound is above the 50 decibels allowed by Code.

They must understand the ambiance of their location and noises, whether they are steady in the background or intermittent, which can affect a reading.

Vehicles may be passing or a plane flying noisily through the sky or some other noise that is affecting what they think they have heard or seen by the numbers on their noise monitors.

They have to get a reading on those surrounding sounds and consider other factors to determine if a true violation exists. It’s also important to show a person howproof of a violation was determined. Not only can that forestall a lawsuit, but it can result in willing compliance with the code rather than confrontation.

He also advised that measuring ambient noise isn’t all the trainees should be measuring. If there’s a lull in all background noise, it’s not a time to put the noise monitor away, Mr. Zwerling said. Rather the user should get a reading at that moment as well.

After practicing taking readings and recording them on the necessary forms in the classroom, Mr. Zwerling took them outside the EMS headquarters to test noises there, including ambient noises, a plane flying overhead, intermittent traffic, a shout from their teacher and boom box music.

From there he took them on a field trip looking to have them test their meters and record their findings at various sites where noise levels varied.

The message in all this is that these people are trained. Chances are, if they’re telling you you’re exceeding Town Code levels for noise, they have properly amassed the information needed to cite you for a violation and one likely to stand up in court.