Commonwealth Noise Laws

[hooknladder]

Lets say: Officer is walking by a residence at 0115 hours and can hear music from the sidewalk area a short distance down the street. No complaints have been made. Barring any local ordinance, is the officer (under Commonwealth Law) able to disturb the resident and tell him the music "could" cause a disturbance and tell the resident to turn down the volume? It is winter and all windows/doors are closed.

[jw34]

Lets say: Officer is walking by a residence at 0115 hours and can hear music from the sidewalk area a short distance down the street. No complaints have been made. Barring any local ordinance, is the officer (under Commonwealth Law) able to disturb the resident and tell him the music "could" cause a disturbance and tell the resident to turn down the volume? It is winter and all windows/doors are closed.

Short answer, Yes.
Long answer, PA section of Title 18, 5503(a)(2) is Disorderly Conduct (unreasonable noise). He was nice enough to give you a warning before someone else called, in which case, it might have been handled with a citation with a $300 fine. He took care of a problem before it became a problem. And he might have saved himself some paperwork. There is no restriction in regards to what time of night he can knock on your door.

[Qtrborecrazy]

Another one for you, why is it when an ambulance comes into a hospital zone they have to turn off sirens but the picketers from the SEIU union can use a bull horn and disturb the peace?

[hooknladder]

Short answer, Yes.
Long answer, PA section of Title 18, 5503(a)(2) is Disorderly Conduct (unreasonable noise). He was nice enough to give you a warning before someone else called, in which case, it might have been handled with a citation with a $300 fine. He took care of a problem before it became a problem. And he might have saved himself some paperwork. There is no restriction in regards to what time of night he can knock on your door.

It wasn't me, but thank you for the info.

[jw34]

Another one for you, why is it when an ambulance comes into a hospital zone they have to turn off sirens but the picketers from the SEIU union can use a bull horn and disturb the peace?

Don't know for sure what ambulances are required to do in that situation, not my field of expertise. But if I would have to guess, I'd say the ambulances are following policy or procedure set forth by the hospital or EMS agency.
And the union has a right to assemble under 1A.

[Qtrborecrazy]

Yeah I know they have the right to assemble but do they have the right to disturb the peace using a bull horn? People are trying to get well and all they keep hearing is the same old lame chant, hay hay ho ho over and over again all day long. Next time you pass a hospital look for quite zone signs. Another one for ya, how about trucks exiting the highway and they have signs for NO JAKE BRAKES so that you don't disturb the peoples tranquility with loud noise coming from the exhaust pipes banging away.