THE EDITOR, Sir:
THIS IS an open letter to the Police Commissioner and those government authorities who bear responsibility for the implementation of the Night Noise Abatement Act.
I live in a residential, densely populated section of Red Hills and just spent another night without sleep, the second one in a row, because of not one, but at least two sound systems playing loudly up against each other until 4:30 a.m. To add to this, almost equally loud gospel music enveloped our community from about 7:00 a.m. onwards this morning, so we have had a window of less than three hours to get some rest.
The Red Hills Police and 119 were called repeatedly by several neighbours and myself but were, once again, of little help. We were told the organisers of the dance(s) had 'a permit.' Apparently, the police had visited the dances around 2:00 a.m. and asked for the music to be turned down but it was turned back up within a matter of minutes, only much louder than before. In fact, between 2:00 and 4:30 a.m. the sound systems did not even play anything I can describe as music, only the hollering and shrieking of a bunch of demented deejays, whose rants consisted mainly of curse words, obscenities and taunts and threats to those in the neighbourhood who had called the police, shouted over some inane electronic rhythm and accompanied by the lovely sounds of a fog horn!
Obviously, disrupting the peace of our community is a substantial part of the fun for those who organise and attend such dances. As we have observed in our community, these dances are usually attended by no more than a few dozen patrons, while hundreds of residents are deprived of their rightful sleep.
I am not saying there cannot be an occasional party but I ask that measures be taken to keep the frequency and sound level of these events within reason. The Night Noise Abatement Act provides the legal tools to ensure this, if only it would be applied.
I am, etc.,
'Sleepless and Disgruntled'
Red Hills P.O.
Via Go-Jamaica
