I-Team: How one NYC resident makes a living writing thousands of noise tickets

Owners of several New York City bars, restaurants, and shops say they are fed up with an avalanche of city summonses for noise violations. 

But these tickets are not being written by city employees, they’re being written and filed by civilians who stand to make 25-50% of the fines collected.

“It’s outrageous. We have restaurants and bars calling us up and they’re getting 4, 5, 6 violations from the same person before they even get notice of the first violation,” said Andrew Rigie, Executive Director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance. “It’s adding up to thousands and thousands of dollars and these bounty hunters essentially that are issuing these violations are taking home a portion of it!”

Queens resident Dietmar Detering is one of the city’s most prolific noise ticket writers. He considers ticket writing his primary occupation. Though he concedes it is fair to call him a “bounty hunter,” he believes New York City is becoming a quieter, more pleasant place because of his tickets.

“There are so many violations out there and the lack of enforcement. I see the victims,” Detering said. “My desire for these businesses is not to give me any more work. Be quiet.”

Detering declined to say how much money he has made by taking his cut of the fines collected. 

Court records from the NYC Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings and obtained by the NBC New York I-Team show, as of April 30, Detering had 560 noise tickets filed in the city’s system for tracking civil violations. The total fines imposed from those tickets was in excess of $600,000. But many of Detering’s tickets have yet to be recorded in court records. 

In all, city officials say Detering has generated more than 2,000 noise summonses and at least one other resident has generated even more than him.

“We’re getting bombarded with tickets. It’s insane,” said Patrick Callaghan, who runs The Elgin, a bar and restaurant on West 48th Street.

“They’re not cheap violations,” said Theresa Burke-Sigler, who manages the Pig N’ Whistle, also on West 48^th Street.  “I’m looking at a minimum of $8,000 [in fines] and a max of $33,000. That’s a lot of money for one business!”

Beyond the financial burden, some have raised concerns that citizen-based enforcement of the noise code could result in uneven or unfair application of the law from one neighborhood to the next.

An I-Team analysis of city administrative court records shows, prior to April 30, Detering filed more than 300 summonses in the predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods of Jackson Heights and Corona in Queens. Those totals far outnumber his tickets in other zip codes. 

Yarin Nadel said he believes the ticketing pattern has had a discriminatory impact on his cell phone shops which have attracted multiple tickets from Detering.

“I actually took loans from my mother and my brother to pay for the lawyers,” Nadel said.

But Detering takes issue with any claim his issuance of summonses is discriminatory. Indeed, he says he is sticking up for predominantly minority communities where language barriers might prevent people from complaining about noise.

“It sounds like they are portraying this as, 'oh, I’m going after Latinos because I hate Latinos.' No, I love Latinos!” Detering said. “Latinos are the people here on the street. They are the victims.”

The controversy around citizen-issued noise tickets has gotten so intense, even the New York City Department of Environmental Protection – one of the agencies tasked with reducing noise pollution – is calling for changes to the law.

“The New York City noise code was created to balance our important reputation as the vibrant city that never sleeps, with the needs of those who live and work here,” said Rohit Aggarwala, the DEP Commissioner. “It’s disappointing that a small group of people are instead abusing the system to terrorize local businesses for personal profit under the pretense of protecting the environment.”

Confusion about the city’s noise code may be one reason businesses feel blindsided by the noise tickets. The wording of the code says restaurants and shops are not allowed to play amplified music intended “for advertising purposes or to attract attention.”  

While business owners say their music is intended to create ambience for customers already inside, Detering and other citizen-ticket issuers say it is obvious restaurants and shops are trying to capture pedestrians’ attention on the sidewalk.

Detering says the city’s administrative law judges appear to agree with him. Of the approximately 200 of his summonses that have been challenged in court, Detering says he’s lost just 27 cases.

“Throughout the city we have a few neighborhoods with commercial noise pollution spread out like a cancer,”  Detering said. “We don’t want the state to have laws that look good but are not being enforced. What good are those for?”

The DEP is now calling on City Council to remove ambiguity in the noise code so that it is clearer what kinds of music should be classified as “commercial or business advertising.” The agency also wants to add requirements for specific decibel levels in order to qualify as a noise violation.  Currently, if music is considered to be sidewalk advertising, it doesn’t matter how loud it is. 

Additionally, the DEP would like to see a rule requiring businesses be served with one summons before additional summonses can be field against it.

“We look forward to working with the City Council to make common-sense changes to the noise code,” Aggarwala said. “Citizen enforcers driven by profit don’t exercise the judgment and discretion that DEP enforcement agents use.”

Detering said he was looking into filing a formal complaint against Aggarwala and suggested the DEP’s criticism of his ticketing pattern has more to do with the agency’s failure to enforce its own laws.

“[The] DEP is embarrassed by a small group of citizens getting a job done that they probably claimed was impossible to get done,” he said.