ratporchrico: @silent_sparkle Comes to something when semi-naked girls look more scary than the blokes or the police com to that :~
about 3 minutes ago
herach5: @clairabellejp well a fellow of the apostrophe police.............. drives me nuts!!!! learn how to use it or leave it alone!!!! I
about 19 minutes ago
Devon:
about 38 minutes ago
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Milwaukee Police officer Mark Lelinski issues a ticket for a noise violation. |  |
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 | By Drew Olson   Senior Editor E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Drew Olson |
| Published July 23, 2007 at 5:39 a.m. |
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(page 2)
After about 10 minutes of conversation, we hear music cranking from a car headed from the north side. At almost the same time, Lelinski and I say "gray Altima." Based on our tree landmarks, the music is audible from just more than 100 feet.
Lelinski swings into traffic, but the car is about a half-mile ahead of us. "Once we hear them, we have to catch them," he said, hitting the accelerator. A stoplight is about to turn red, but Lelinski slows down slightly, hits his siren momentarily and we cruise through it and accelerates again.
Moments later, the driver of the Altima pulls over and Lelinski heads out. After a short conversation with the driver, he returns with the man's license.
"That was a classic," Lelinski said, laughing as he enters the driver's name and license number into the squad car's computer. "I asked the guy, 'Do you know why I'm stopping you?' and he said, 'Hold on' and he had to turn his radio down because he couldn't hear me."
The driver's record comes up clean and Lelinski begins writing out the $237 ticket and notices that the driver's brake light is burned out. "I could write him for that, too, but the kid was very cooperative and polite. I'll just tell him to get it fixed."
Lelinski said most of the people caught in the Bass Busters operation have been cooperative. "We don't get a lot of guff from people," he said. "Part of that is because it's the afternoon right now. People can be different at night, when they've got a few beers in them and they've got some of their buddies in the car and they want to look cool.
"Right now, people have been pretty good. A lot of them are surprised to be getting to be getting the ticket. A few people will say 'You don't like me because I'm Hispanic,' or 'You don't like me because I'm black.' Or 'You just don't like my music.' I always tell them, 'It's not that I don't like the music. It's just too loud.'"
Lelinski issues the ticket to the driver and we head back to our hiding spot. At a stoplight, we hear loud music from a distance. It's not 50 Cent or Metallica. It's the unmistakable sound of an ice cream truck blaring a children's song.
That begs an obvious question: Are ice cream trucks being targeted by police?
"Not right now," Lelinski said. "That's not part of the program. I'll tell you what, though -- if I was in the middle of my afternoon 'grandpa nap' and one of those guys drove by, I'd find it pretty annoying."
What about motorcycles? A modified Harley-Davidson can crank out more decibels than a car stereo.
"We're not targeting them yet, either," Lelinski said. "But, they can get loud, too."
Within a few minutes, a red Dodge Neon drives by with the radio blaring. It is audible outside the 50-foot range, so Lelinski swings into action, follows the car down a side street, hits his lights and the driver pulls over.
The woman named Tabitha was just a few blocks from her home and had children in the car; a girl in her early teens up front and a small child in the back seat.
Tabitha hands Lelinski a state I.D. card, but does not possess a driver's license. The registration for the car, which is owned by her husband, has expired. A computer check shows that Tabitha has no warrants or record, but Lelinski writes her tickets for the noise violation, driving without a license and the expired registration.
While Tabitha waits for her citations, an ice cream truck passes by on 25th St., playing its usual song at a volume louder than her car stereo. The irony is remarkable, but Tabitha has other things on her mind. Had she not been blaring the radio, she wouldn't have received any of the tickets. Because she doesn't have a license and lives only a few blocks away, Lelinski has her park the car and walk home.
On this day, cranking her radio turned out to be both expensive and inconvenient. But, her neighborhood is a little quieter.
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Recent Talkbacks ...
Posted by sharkcellar on June 5, 2009 at 6:13 p.m. (report)
How is this not racial profiling? If the point of this is to cut down on obnoxious noise coming from peoples vehicles, then how come no one is cracking down on Harley riders whose bikes can be heard from BLOCKS away. You can only really hear a bass heavy sound system when it's right on your block or a few dozen feet away. This is typical of Milwaukee racism disguised as benign public policy. Yaay! And for the record I think that loud bassy sound systems are obnoxious too, but if this is a noise ordinance then it should be one that is designed to reduced gratuitous noise and not single out blacks and hispanics for wanting to take the party with them.
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Posted by karlap7106 on May 8, 2008 at 10:52 p.m. (report)
I believe there should be restrictions for after hours and early hours or excessibly loud stereos but only when witnessed by police. I do not think it's right to give public the power to just call in with a plate number and vehicle description and then you get a ticket, it will just make people take advantage and just call in because they don't like you even if you are not playing loud music.
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Posted by mitchgat on July 24, 2007 at 4:31 p.m. (report)
A noise ordinance is not new. The problem is, they should have enforced it a long time ago. We've allowed people to get to a point where they feel they should be able to do what they want, when they want and never have to answer for their actions. The target audience for this, like the cruising ordinance and the Mayfair curfew policy, are PEOPLE who refuse to behave and show a common courtesy and common sense when they're in public. It's that simple. Enforce this consistently, day and night and hopefully people will get the message: turn down the radio, it's not all about you. Yes there are other things to worry about but these little nuisances, unchecked lead to much bigger things. The perception that everything is racially motivated is what stinks. Profiling sucks but when certain individuals continue to perpetuate stereotypes, that sucks just as much! Profiling and perpetuating stereotypes have created the unnecessary "walking on broken glass" syndrome when it comes to race relations in this town. Are we not smart enough as individuals to realize that one person or a small group of people do not represent an entire race? What sucks even more is people making assumptions that any ordinance that attempts to correct an annoying, rude, selfish, unnecessary behavior must be racially motivated. By this logic, if they do enforce this noise ordinance against motorcycle owners, I suppose it's profiling white males? Please. If people would use common sense and courtesy, life would be so much simpler. Sigh.
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Posted by haaz on July 24, 2007 at 4:25 p.m. (report)
Frankly, I'm glad to read this. The booming bass really is annoying, and it often distracts me from the otherwise pleasant conversation I'm trying to have as I walk around Milwaukee with my friends. Yes, it will hit blacks and Latinos, but it's also a quality of life issue. That actually is the grounds for taking action about something. If someone's behavior effects your quality of life, it's legally allowable to take (legal) action about it. If your neighbor is blasting the stereo or having a 200 decibel argument at 3 A.M., you are right to call the cops on them as it detracts from your quality of life. I know who the law will in effect hit. That's unfortunate, but the people who put the ultra-powerful subwoofers in their cars are making a decision that impacts the quality of life of everyone around them. And I have actually wished this sort of law would exist. I'm glad to see it.
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Posted by Blaine on July 24, 2007 at 1:27 p.m. (report)
Ok, I get it -- Loud music = tickets for noise violation. But hey On Milwaukee, here is yr news headline: What about motorcycles? A modified Harley-Davidson can crank out more decibels than a car stereo. "We're not targeting them yet, either," Lelinski said. "But, they can get loud, too." Exhaust modifications on bikes esp Harleys are just as loud a bass busters. So the MPD let's writers do ridealongs. Now go the next step and ask the follow up questions about why target some and not others. Take it from a homeowner who lives a block a Bayview motorcycle "shop", this clubhouse has folks coming and going well after midnight into post bar time. Conveniently there are never any officers around when its loud.
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