Covington council revises noise and disturbing-the-peace ordinances after First Amendment concerns

The Covington City Council on March 3 adopted two linked ordinances revising the city code to make it easier for police to respond to disorderly noise and disturbing-the-peace incidents.

Council leadership said the changes remove detailed decibel thresholds from the noise-control chapter and instead link certain public-noise complaints to the disturbing-the-peace code, while retaining distinct rules for construction noise. The sponsor said the update is not a wholesale rewrite but a narrow fix to outdated language that has hampered officers' ability to cite violations.

At public comment, resident Robin Schulberg urged the council to remove whistles from the list of acts that could be deemed to "unreasonably disturb or alarm the public," arguing that inclusion would amount to "viewpoint discrimination" because people sometimes blow whistles to alert neighbors to immigration-enforcement activity. Schulberg also called portions of the proposed language covering "offensive, derisive or annoying words" overbroad under the First Amendment and suggested narrowing the code to threats.

Deputy Chief Kevin Collins told the council officers will consider the totality of circumstances before issuing citations and that the goal is to provide clear, enforceable criteria. "We also take into consideration the totality of the circumstances," Collins said, adding that the department intends to use discretion and that a written citation is only the start of a person’s day in court. The chair and members noted that any enforcement action ultimately can be challenged in court.

Council members said they plan a broader code overhaul later but described the current changes as necessary to restore basic enforcement tools. After discussion and public comment, the council moved, seconded and adopted both ordinances on roll call.

The council’s action will be followed by a comprehensive review of related sections of the covington code of ordinances, at which point residents were invited to participate.