I hate cops, but I like the idea of having someone be responsible for noise complaints. So ideally the government would fund a new “neighbourhood service” who are responsible for resolving domestic squabbles and mental health crises, but don’t have the authority to arrest anyone or carry any kind of weapon. And they would be able to tell people not to blast music in the yard for the express purpose of annoying others.
They exist in the UK. They’re called Community Support Officers (CSO) and they’re useless.
They don’t have the ability to arrest anyone, so all they can essentially do is go “hey you’re being a twat, please stop” and then of course they don’t, which results in the police turning up. They essentially serve to slow the entire process of getting the noise turned down.
Sometimes you see a CSO and an actual cop doing the rounds together, and you always look at them and you think, what the bloody hell is the point in that?
CSOs should be able to write tickets for a progressive income fine and/or community service. The problem is all the power to threaten people (financially, physically, or otherwise) is solely in the hands of police. So police still have to do everything. CSOs should have some powers, just not any physically violent powers.
They may in fact be able to write fines,I do not know because writing of fines isn’t really what is needed in that scenario. You need somebody with your authority to actually force the issue if challenged. Sure they could write a fine and then call the police as backup, but the police could also write a fine when they get there, the situation remains the same, the police are needed in order to rectify the actual problem. CSO certainly can’t compel people to attend court so they have less authority than bounty hunters who barely have any legal authority themselves.
People who are likely to capitulate to a CSO are also likely to capitulate if you just go round to their house and complain on your own.
The reason people don’t like CSOs is if you complain to them about a local issue, all they can do is pass that on to the police, but I could just call the non-emergency number up and do that directly and it would probably get a faster response. Yet if people complain that the police don’t properly patrol their communities, the police respond by sending in useless CSOs as a sort of fig leaf and then pretend to have dealt with the issue.
I looked it up, and CSOs are actually part of the police, which is the first problem. The second problem is they can’t issue fines. I don’t think someone should be arrested for playing loud music on a balcony, I don’t believe that’s a proportional response outside of the most dire circumstances involving severe sensory processing disorders. But I do think they should be fined a certain percentage of their income and assets which increases based on their tax bracket. And I do think that’s a convincing deterrent. “How many grand is that song worth to you? Because if you keep playing it, you’re gonna have to pay up.”
I hate cops, but I like the idea of having someone be responsible for noise complaints. So ideally the government would fund a new “neighbourhood service” who are responsible for resolving domestic squabbles and mental health crises, but don’t have the authority to arrest anyone or carry any kind of weapon. And they would be able to tell people not to blast music in the yard for the express purpose of annoying others.
They exist in the UK. They’re called Community Support Officers (CSO) and they’re useless.
They don’t have the ability to arrest anyone, so all they can essentially do is go “hey you’re being a twat, please stop” and then of course they don’t, which results in the police turning up. They essentially serve to slow the entire process of getting the noise turned down.
Sometimes you see a CSO and an actual cop doing the rounds together, and you always look at them and you think, what the bloody hell is the point in that?
CSOs should be able to write tickets for a progressive income fine and/or community service. The problem is all the power to threaten people (financially, physically, or otherwise) is solely in the hands of police. So police still have to do everything. CSOs should have some powers, just not any physically violent powers.
They may in fact be able to write fines,I do not know because writing of fines isn’t really what is needed in that scenario. You need somebody with your authority to actually force the issue if challenged. Sure they could write a fine and then call the police as backup, but the police could also write a fine when they get there, the situation remains the same, the police are needed in order to rectify the actual problem. CSO certainly can’t compel people to attend court so they have less authority than bounty hunters who barely have any legal authority themselves.
People who are likely to capitulate to a CSO are also likely to capitulate if you just go round to their house and complain on your own.
The reason people don’t like CSOs is if you complain to them about a local issue, all they can do is pass that on to the police, but I could just call the non-emergency number up and do that directly and it would probably get a faster response. Yet if people complain that the police don’t properly patrol their communities, the police respond by sending in useless CSOs as a sort of fig leaf and then pretend to have dealt with the issue.
I looked it up, and CSOs are actually part of the police, which is the first problem. The second problem is they can’t issue fines. I don’t think someone should be arrested for playing loud music on a balcony, I don’t believe that’s a proportional response outside of the most dire circumstances involving severe sensory processing disorders. But I do think they should be fined a certain percentage of their income and assets which increases based on their tax bracket. And I do think that’s a convincing deterrent. “How many grand is that song worth to you? Because if you keep playing it, you’re gonna have to pay up.”
“OR WOT M8? CAN’T ARREST ME CAN YA!”
They should still be able to write tickets for progressive income fines and community service.