City of Kent Police Department Helps College Residents Save with New Party Registration Program

Cha-Ching! A local Kent State student is paying hundreds of dollars for his noise violation at the Kent Municipal on a Monday following receiving a ticket at his noisy party the Saturday night before.

Beginning this past spring, the City of Kent and the Kent Police Department paired together to help these students control their parties and stay away from cashing out these tickets.

Towards of end of this past spring, the city of Kent police department opened up a brand new program to help reduce noise violations in the neighborhoods throughout the city of Kent.

The new party registration program created by the City of Kent Police was developed in May and has just concluded its first semester of being in force for Kent State University students.

The party registration program is described by the police department as a cooperative effort between the City of Kent and the City of Kent Police Department to reduce to negative consequences of excessive noise and other nuisance incidents that are associated with parties in residential neighborhoods around the City of Kent.

Lieutenant James Prusha discussed the goals for the department when the program was being created. “The goal for the party registration program is to encourage responsibility among party hosts and to reduce the calls for service made to the police department regarding unlawful noise.” Prusha mentioned.

The purpose of the registration program is to provide party hosts and party attendees with an opportunity to receive a telephone warning and it will also give them the voluntary option to terminate and end the party college party in the case of excessive noise or to voluntarily handle other nuisance activities after a complaint has been made to the Kent Police Department.

For a house to register a party will give the residents of that address 20 minutes to voluntarily clear out the property before the city of Kent police ticket them with excessive noise or violation of nuisance activities.

Kent State Senior and College Street Resident, Jason DeRosa, believes the party registration program will help students become responsible at planning their parties while still being able to enjoy themselves in the meantime. “I like it for the fact that you have a three strike rule that they will call you and pretty much let you know that we have word that your party is getting out of hand and it gives you a chance to shut your party down before they come out and give you a noise violation.” DeRosa stated.

Now, the new party registration program may also affect the older residents of the city of Kent just as much as the students who attend the University and will most likely be using the program more.

City of Kent resident and manager at Firestone Complete Auto Care in Kent, Kyle Rist, believes the program will do the City great and will prevent chances of mischief from occurring at the houses. “I believe it is a great idea because it gives the residents the opportunity to still have a party and not have it get shut down and it also gives the police a more heads up on where the parties are at,” Rist stated, “So if they are getting out of hand, they know where to stop by before anything gets destroyed.”

With registering for the program, the City of Kent and the Kent Police Department are not liable for the conduct or actions of any residents, attendees, or anyone else associated with the registration of the program. Both are neither liable for damages or injuries of any person or persons associated with the party.

The result of the party registration has led to less phone complaints being made to the KPD according to Prusha. “We have found that we very rarely get called to registered parties.” said Prusha, “Most noise violations are at non-registered parties.”

From records given by the Kent Police Department, the number of noise violations haven’t had a substantial decrease quite yet since the first registered party was recorded on April 23, 2014.

Between April 23rd of 2013 and January 27th of 2014, the Kent Police Department issued 370 noise tickets throughout the Kent community. Between April 23rd of 2014 and January 27, 2015, the KPD issued 339 noise tickets to the community. These noise violations were mostly given to residents who did not follow the procedure to register their home for their event.

For any resident looking to register a party at your residence, it’s a very easy process that will take just a few minutes to complete. Just stop up to the Kent Police Department 48 hours before your event to fill out a simple one-page form stating the date and time of your event. All individuals registering for the program must be 21 years of age and living in the home of the event.

As the warm spring approaches in just two months and more parties will be occurring, just remember to plan, register, and enjoy yourself in a safely manner. If not, you’ll be picking your pockets for loose change that you’ll have to spend when you pay for your noise ticket at the Kent Municipal Court.