The first field tests of newly purchased noise decibel meters intended to measure the noise level of parties were implemented by the Charleston Police Department this weekend. They yielded some results but proved more tests will be necessary.

Three separate squad cars patrolled the Charleston party scene from 11:30 p.m. Friday until about 2 a.m. Saturday to determine the effectiveness of the devices and whether or not to use them in conjunction with a noise level standard.

The noise level standard would set a limit to how loud a party could be before police get involved.

Professors, students and members of the community rode with the officers to help determine the effectiveness of the noise decibel meters, which are part of an effort to improve community-student relations.

Community member and Eastern alumnus Bob McElwee, who accompanied one of the officers, is a 20-year resident of Charleston and a member of the Neighbors for a Peaceful Neighborhood group, an organization that McElwee described as trying to improve the relationship between students, community members and landlords.

“I’m sure when people read about (the decibel meters), they thought it was a way to really come down on students,” McElwee said.

McElwee said the intent is quite the opposite, citing the noise decibel meters as a tool to help warn students so their first contact with police is not a ticket.

The “guns,” as McElwee called them, were tested at distances ranging from 20 to 200 feet in order to compare the decibel levels outside of local parties with 50 decibels as the standard equivalent to a human talking.

“It was pretty quiet last night, most (parties) didn’t register more than 78 or 79 on the decibel scale,” McElwee said.

McElwee said four or five people talking outside ranged at about 60 to 65 decibels, and 79 decibels was the highest reading the officer he rode with tested outside an after-hours party just north of the Copy Express off Lincoln Highway.

“It was a controlled party, and they weren’t bothering anybody,” McElwee said.

Marty Ruhaak, Student Senate External Relations Committee chair, rode with an officer who performed six or seven tests over the course of the evening. Ruhaak said it was a pretty quiet evening, but he was able to get a rough estimate of what could be considered a loud decibel level.

“Nothing below 70 I would call loud…low to mid 70s if anything,” Ruhaak said.

Ruhaak said most of the parties the officer he road along with patrolled tested in the 60 to 65 decibel range.

Reed Benedict, associate professor of sociology and anthropology, said the officer he rode with was able to test only three sites, but still provided him with a general opinion of what he considered a loud reading.

“We had some at the 60 degree range which in my opinion, if I was a neighbor, would be too loud,” Benedict said.

Benedict said that testing one house may provide better data resulting from a more controlled environment and that more testing is definitely needed.

“The instrument itself works well, but we have to decide which decibel level is acceptable to the community,” he said.

It remains unclear whether the Charleston Police department will officially implement the decibel meter system into the policing of the community.

Benedict said implementation of the decibel meters by police was a “foregone conclusion” because the Charleston police department has already purchased four of the decibel meters which, Benedict said, can cost up to $1,000 per device.

The general idea of the decibel program will include an established decibel level which, if students violate it, will result in a warning from police. Disciplinary action will allegedly occur upon second visits.

Ruhaak said in some college communities, after noise levels were established, student volunteers equipped with decibel meters surveyed parties and warned partiers before the authorities.

No one at the Charleston police department was available for comment.