How long have you been using The Noise App?

We have been using the app since the launch, for a year and nine months. 

What attracted Tai Calon to the app?

For us, we have limited hardware support and had a matron kit to investigate noise nuisance, which was standard use with our local authority. This option is very resource-intensive, especially since we have a small team to install the kit. The Noise App allows us to monitor several cases simultaneously without a waiting list for our matron kit. For example, over the weekend, we noticed eight new recordings coming in over three cases – these notifications give us a better picture of what’s going on instead of waiting for the kit to come back.

How many cases do you have?

We currently have 26 active cases on the app.

How many officers oversee these cases?

We have two admins and several community safety officers who can access the app – the majority of cases are dealt with by us.

We know that you have used the app in court. What evidence was used?

We used a PDF of all the logs to show the volume of the complaints, along with recordings on my laptop. Witness statements were given along with the schedule from The Noise App. We provided a lot of details on the effects on the family, including the warnings we had given.

What was the nature of these cases?

We’ve used the app twice for legal investigations – these involved loud music and domestic abuse noise for injunctions.

Has The Noise App improved communications with your residents?

The Noise App allowed us to reply to them on the weekend through the website so that they felt supported. This was helpful because the family felt vulnerable – the neighbour had a history of different ASB cases. The chat history is also useful as it is all kept in the case.

How was the evidence from The Noise App received?

Much of our argument was within the statement, and the judge didn’t ask to listen to the recordings that were submitted. It was accepted to be a trusted source. The privacy notice on the PDF evidence that can be downloaded from the website gives more weight to the fact that the evidence gathering is well thought out. The volume of the complaints and the fact that we have listened back so that we can provide witness statements on the noise nuisance helps to build the picture for the case.

There is a limited timeframe to apply for the injunction, so being able to click a button and pull all the logs together saves us a lot of time.

Would you be happy to use standalone noise app data again?

We will continue to use it for cases regarding ASB and hope to share the data with the local authority so that they can use it to support environmental health cases.

Do you have any other cases in the pipeline using data from The Noise App?

We’ve already got recordings from a domestic abuse case, and having reviewed recordings from this morning, after the weekend, we will probably need to use The Noise App evidence for these.

First, we will play the recordings back to the tenant as a warning that we will be taking official proceedings if the music continues.

Do you have any other comments?

We are giving phones out to our officers so that they can take recordings themselves and give witness statements to support the complainant.

It gives the complainant control and proof that the noise has occurred – log sheets don’t give the complainant the confidence that they will be believed.