After decades of complaints, the citizens of many urban centres in Jamaica are now boasting new hope regarding the vexed issue of night noises. This renewed hope is founded on the reported assurances provided by newly appointed Commissioner of Police Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin that he will be receiving recommendations by Friday April 4, 2008, with a view to dealing with the issue of night noise and the enforcement of the Noise Abatement Act. Speaking on Monday, March 31 2008, at the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) monthly press conference, the Commissioner is reported in the Gleaner as saying that "The matter of night noise is distressing not to just me personally, but to those people who have to suffer underneath it and we have to put a stop to it…..Clearly, we have to do a lot more than we have been doing now and change the way we have been doing it, and we are going to use means available to us." The Commissioner also indicated that the recommendations would look at the permitting and the policing of night events.
This is particularly comforting for the residents of Seymour Lands, Trafalgar Park and the residential sections of New Kingston which have been afflicted by Night Noises for a number of years and been further frustrated by the inability / unwillingness of the JCF to enforce the Night Noises Act (1997). A classic example of the casual disregard that the law has been treated with is the annual J’ouvert celebrations, inclusive of a road march, which commences at or about 2 am. However Section 3 of the Noise Abatement Act 1997 also colloquially referred to as the Night Noises Act, states that no person shall, on any private premises or in any public place at any time of day or night-
(a) sing, or sound or play upon any musical or noisy instrument; or
(b) operate, or permit or cause to be operated, any loudspeaker, microphone or any other device for the amplification of sound;
in such a manner that the sound is audible beyond a distance of one hundred metres (328.1 feet) from the source of such sound and is reasonably capable of causing annoyance to persons in the vicinity so, however, that where during the period specified in subsection (4) such sound is audible beyond that distance in the vicinity of any dwelling house, hospital, nursing home, infirmary, hotel or guest house, such sound shall be presumed to cause annoyance to persons in that vicinity.
Subsection (4) of the Noise Abatement Act specifically refers to that time interval between:
(a) 2 0’clock and 6 o’clock in the morning on a Saturday or Sunday; and
(b) Midnight on a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday and 6 o'clock in the following morning.
Hence, if these celebrations had indeed received the requisite permits prescribed under the law from the Police, such permits would have been granted in contravention of the Noise Abatement Act (1997). Therefore for the Commissioner’s new thrust to tackle night noises to have the requisite effect, cognizance must be taken of the actual tenets of the law and control mechanisms instituted so that the JCF itself is not held to be complicit in the facilitation of any potential breaches.
Whereas, due deference must be given to the citizen’s right to entertainment, there is need for order in the pursuit of such enjoyment and it is in that regard that the Commissioner’s interventions must be viewed. The residents, particularly in residential sections of New Kingston, are being buffeted by frequent street dances and by Stage Presentations at Mas Camp on Oxford Road and other places of entertainment with no attempt being made to modulate the sound, much to their discomfort. Not to be outdone the residents of Seymour Lands and Trafalgar Park are equally affected by Night Noises.
In fairness, the personnel at the New Kingston Police Post led by ASP Cameron has exhibited intolerance to the flagrant breaches of the Noise Abatement Law in that particular area but it is clear that there is an insufficiency of personnel to treat with this matter, as well as matters of jurisdictional encroachment, which tend to stymie the efforts. Order is a necessary condition for the development of any society and therefore citizens in affected communities are looking to the JCF yet again, in hope that this initiative to treat with night noises will be successful.
See Also
Know the Law: The Noise Abatement Act
This is particularly comforting for the residents of Seymour Lands, Trafalgar Park and the residential sections of New Kingston which have been afflicted by Night Noises for a number of years and been further frustrated by the inability / unwillingness of the JCF to enforce the Night Noises Act (1997). A classic example of the casual disregard that the law has been treated with is the annual J’ouvert celebrations, inclusive of a road march, which commences at or about 2 am. However Section 3 of the Noise Abatement Act 1997 also colloquially referred to as the Night Noises Act, states that no person shall, on any private premises or in any public place at any time of day or night-
(a) sing, or sound or play upon any musical or noisy instrument; or
(b) operate, or permit or cause to be operated, any loudspeaker, microphone or any other device for the amplification of sound;
in such a manner that the sound is audible beyond a distance of one hundred metres (328.1 feet) from the source of such sound and is reasonably capable of causing annoyance to persons in the vicinity so, however, that where during the period specified in subsection (4) such sound is audible beyond that distance in the vicinity of any dwelling house, hospital, nursing home, infirmary, hotel or guest house, such sound shall be presumed to cause annoyance to persons in that vicinity.
Subsection (4) of the Noise Abatement Act specifically refers to that time interval between:
(a) 2 0’clock and 6 o’clock in the morning on a Saturday or Sunday; and
(b) Midnight on a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday and 6 o'clock in the following morning.
Hence, if these celebrations had indeed received the requisite permits prescribed under the law from the Police, such permits would have been granted in contravention of the Noise Abatement Act (1997). Therefore for the Commissioner’s new thrust to tackle night noises to have the requisite effect, cognizance must be taken of the actual tenets of the law and control mechanisms instituted so that the JCF itself is not held to be complicit in the facilitation of any potential breaches.
Whereas, due deference must be given to the citizen’s right to entertainment, there is need for order in the pursuit of such enjoyment and it is in that regard that the Commissioner’s interventions must be viewed. The residents, particularly in residential sections of New Kingston, are being buffeted by frequent street dances and by Stage Presentations at Mas Camp on Oxford Road and other places of entertainment with no attempt being made to modulate the sound, much to their discomfort. Not to be outdone the residents of Seymour Lands and Trafalgar Park are equally affected by Night Noises.
In fairness, the personnel at the New Kingston Police Post led by ASP Cameron has exhibited intolerance to the flagrant breaches of the Noise Abatement Law in that particular area but it is clear that there is an insufficiency of personnel to treat with this matter, as well as matters of jurisdictional encroachment, which tend to stymie the efforts. Order is a necessary condition for the development of any society and therefore citizens in affected communities are looking to the JCF yet again, in hope that this initiative to treat with night noises will be successful.
See Also
Know the Law: The Noise Abatement Act
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