St. Pete Times column

[fltoddy]

Reference the last four paragraphs, and in particular:

"Police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said that since the new statute went into
effect, not a single citation has been issued in the city"

....could that possibly be true? In 18 months there hasn't been a single citation for "music audible > 25 feet?"



"Young Driver Runs Into Rap Trap

By DANIEL RUTH

Published: Jul 14, 2007

You might say young Master Anthony Gordon's taste for dreadfully bad,
horribly bad, truly, truly, truly ineptly bad rap music while driving cost
him considerably more than 50 cent.

There was Gordon, blissfully motoring along McFarland Road on a recent
afternoon, coming home after a workout, when he was stopped by Hillsborough
County sheriff's Deputy Michael Park, who apparently was on music critic
patrol.

Gordon had not been speeding. He had stopped at the stop sign. And yet the
18-year-old recent Chamberlain High School graduate arrived home with a
ticket, which would cost him $76.

His crime? It seems Gordon was in violation of a state motor vehicle
statute: "Operation of Soundmaking Devices in Motor Vehicles." Catchy title.

According to the law, which went into effect last year, motorists can find
themselves in trouble if sounds coming from their vehicles "can be clearly
heard outside the vehicle by a person using his normal hearing faculties, at
a distance of 25 feet or more from a motor vehicle."


Auditory Training


As Park was writing the ticket, Gordon asked the officer how he could tell
he was in violation of the law. "He said he had been trained by his ear,"
Gordon sighed. "I didn't want to argue with him." Good idea.

You would think because Gordon hadn't been speeding or committing some other
moving violation, perhaps Park could have cut the soon-to-be Florida Gulf
Coast University student a break and let him off with a warning to turn the
channel to National Public Radio.

But he didn't.

"I don't know," Gordon mused. "Maybe he had to meet a quota, or maybe he
didn't like the music."

Park did not return a call. But sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said
officers have some discretion between issuing a ticket or merely a warning.


Ravel's 'Bolero'


Because Park was homing in on Gordon's car with a speed gun, which also
calculates distance, Callaway noted that the deputy was able to hear the
loud music from 202 feet, or 67 yards away.

As sympathetic as one might be with Gordon's plight, being subjected to
Eminem at 202 feet away certainly has to be a crime against something.

It's entirely possible that had this young man been listening to Ravel's
"Bolero," or "Sinatra At The Sands," just maybe the long arm of the law
might have been shortened a bit.

Neither the sheriff's office nor the Tampa Police Department offers special
training for officers in determining when a motorist might be in violation
of the "Soundmaking" statute.

Police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said that since the new statute went into
effect, not a single citation has been issued in the city, so you might say
Gordon is something of a toe-tapping scofflaw trailblazer.

Callaway could not say how many other drivers have been cited. But he noted
that the subject of music blaring from cars almost always comes up at town
meetings with citizen groups.

"It's a quality of life issue."

Realizing he probably can't beat this rap, young Master Gordon said he would
probably just pay the fine and move on - with the volume turned down, way
down, preferably humming along to a nice, sedate Chopin etude."

Once again she is WRONG! Personally I have not issued the citation, but members of my squad has. I have also seen officers in Ybor issue them while I was down there working extra duty.

Bad information from our PIO again!!!!!!!!!!!! I have written citations for this infraction also. I have also given warnings too. It doesn't matter, Sinatra or Rap. Keep your music to yourself and roll up your windows and you don't have to worry about it. not everybody wants to listem to anothers music and some of the other noise, I won't even call it music is offensive to some filled with racial comments and curse words. keep it at your house not on the public street. I wish she would get her facts straight before she makes a statement, bad information can be worse than no information. If they had a Police Officer in that role, (PIO ) I'm sure they would have gotten that right. and the city would have the added benefit of saving those saleries in these times of tight budgets. When the ax falls in Jan I hope these useless PIO positions are eliminated first. We have several articulate LT's that could do this function, they have little else to do.

[fltoddy]

...I figured as much. The "boom cars" are such a hot topic now that it really painted TPD in a bad light by your PIO stating that your department hadn't written a cite for that since the law passed. Just google for "boom cars" or "loud music cars" and you'll see the nationwide uproar and definitely something your department shouldn't be portrayed as being apathetic towards.

I'm glad to hear that's not the case, I'll squelch that rumor if I hear it going forward.

For all the officers writing tickets for noise, especially bass, thank you. For those that aren't, think of the probable cause possibilities that ticket would open up.......

From this day forward she will be referred to as the PIdiOt.

Hmmmmm, she needs to double check those facts. I have written that ticket at least 20 or so times. One of the Ybor squads even had that statute as a initiative a while back.

What training would be required? Here is what 25' is, This is what music sounds like, This is a motor vehicle. It is not brain surgery.

Hey fltoddy, that column ran in the Tampa Dog poo Paper not the St. Pete Pravda. While the trib is liberal it doesn't hold a candle to the pravda ops:

I wrote a couple of those not that long ago. Maybe I should show Laura my pink copies since she only sees yellow in journalism.

"I wrote a couple of those not that long ago. Maybe I should show Laura my pink copies since she only sees yellow in journalism."

Now THAT'S funny...... :P

I'm surprised you guys are even allowed to use the UTC's. Why should the "white" copy always be on top..... :twisted: