As the Fayetteville Observer reports, Fayetteville is considering a ordinance imposing a reporting requirement of a sort for “house parties”:
Last week, the council gave preliminary approval to the latest version, which would impose a $500 civil penalty to the tenant if police respond to a second disturbance call at a house party within a 12-hour period. The city would then notify the owner of the house that the tenant was fined.
If residents register with police before a party, they would not be subject to the fine under the ordinance.
The threshold of a house party, according to the ordinance, is eight or more people over the age of 12.
OK, I understand the motivations behind the proposal, but this raises a number of serious questions. Among the most obvious is if you register a house party because you and your spouse will have three other couples over, does that mean that a cop car shows up and sits in front of your house all night? Or that a license check point just happens to appear that night down the street? Or does the cops paying particular attention only apply if you live in certain parts of town?
