The allowable time for a car alarm to wake up the neighbors has been shortened to three minutes, and the police have been authorized to leave a ticket on a car rather than having to find the owner. Captain Kopstein acknowledged that noise problems can be elusive. There's no catching most of the motorists who honk their horns just to get traffic to move, especially since judges will often dismiss a summons unless an officer can testify that he saw that individual motorist's hands on the horn. Offenders often contest tickets, arguing that it was another bar making the racket or that an airplane happened to be passing by when the sound level was checked. And what is reasonable noise to one person is unreasonable to another.
People try to pitch in with evidence.
Quite a number tape the offending sounds. When inspectors arrive, they sit and listen to tapes of air conditioners thrumming. One woman showed a videotape of an apartment entrance door opening and slamming shut. Alas, the tapes are useless. The inspectors have to hear the noise themselves.