Dogs Score Free Speech Victory in San Diego

Dog Owners protected under "doggy" protection umbrella

San Diego, California.. Dogs have scored a major victory over human beings in San Diego County. Recent changes to the law have exempted dogs from "Disturbing the Peace" laws, that are now applicable to virtually every known source of noise except dogs. Dogs now enjoy the right to disturb the peace at any time without interference from San Diego Police Officers. The San Diego Police will no longer dispatch an officer in response to any claim of a disturbance where the source of the noise is canine, regardless of the circumstance or time of day. Dogs are also immune to prosecutions initiated by humans unless more than three human beings are willing to sign the complaint in an administrative procedure. Unlike their human keepers, dogs cannot be the subject of any action against them for noise violations until a "Neighborhood Code Compliance Officer" receives a written complaint with three cosignatures during administrative business hours, which do not include weekends. Administrative processing can take weeks. Dog noise is "protected speech" in San Diego.

This is in sharp contrast to the rules that apply to human beings. The San Diego Police routinely dispatches its officers to complaint locations where humans or their possessions (except dogs) are the noise source. Only one complaining party is required. In these cases, the police will arrive and immediately insist that the noise be terminated. Failure to immediately comply with the police order may subject the human violator to arrest, a trip to the police station and/or confiscation of any property (such as stereos) associated with the violation, unless that property happens to be a dog, in which case the police will apologize to the dog, and politely leave.