If that's more noise than you can handle, can you call the cops?

Yup.

Neighbors call the police about loud parties, crowing roosters, fireworks, nuisance noises and car noise.

Last year from August through November, Honolulu police took 10,038 noise complaints, a rate of 82 calls per day.

Complaints about animals triggered 6,800 complaints in the four months. Loud parties prompted 1,600 calls, according to the Police Department's computerized beat data.

When the data were broken down by neighborhood, the Star-Bulletin found that people in Waipahu call the police with noise complaints more often than residents of any other area do.

According to data kept by the state, however, Waikiki picks up the most noise complaints.

Using computer databases from the Honolulu Police Department, the state's Criminal Justice Data Center and the Noise and Radiation branch of the state Health Department, the Star-Bulletin has pinpointed the spots on Oahu that draw the most noise complaints.

Waipahu is divided into two police beats.

A check of the calls coming from those two beats shows that from August through November, either East or West Waipahu ranked in the top 10 areas on Oahu for complaints about noise, especially loud parties.

Richardson said that when police arrive at a noisy party, the property owner or person in charge is warned to knock it off.

If the police return, someone is going to jail.

"I remember we went to one graduation party in Waipahu, the neighbors called because there were cars double-parked everywhere and they were making too much noise.

"It was 1 or 2 in the morning, so the officers started towing the cars. The paddy wagon pulled up.

"We tell them to be quiet and they answer 'Why?'" Richardson said. Cases like this get one warning, and then the owner or person responsible is arrested for disorderly conduct. Because of the chances of an argument becoming a brawl, police usually go to those parties in teams.

"We take the paddy wagon so everyone knows we aren't there to mess around," Richardson says.

Graduation parties, pay days at the beginning or middle of the month and weekend celebrations cause the most disorderly conduct complaints, according to Richardson.

A computer search of disorderly conduct arrests across the state shows that May 11, 1991, and June 24, 1988, were the busiest days for disorderly conduct arrests, although the statistics don't indicate if the arrests were for noise or other problems.

"You can train dogs to bark when it is appropriate, but roosters just crow. There is no way to train them not to," said Pamela Burns, Humane Society executive director.

The law allows only two chickens or roosters per residence in residential areas, but sometimes the Humane Society gets complaints about people keeping more than 100 roosters.

The gamecocks can be sold, so there is real money to be made in poultry production, according to Charles Duncan, the society's manager of field services.

The issue, however, is a difficult one because some people have been raising roosters and chickens for many years when they get a new neighbor who can't stand the crowing. "This is a very hot topic," Burns said.

The state also fields noise complaints, but according to Jerry Haruno, chief of the Health Department's Noise and Radiation branch and a 25-year veteran in handling noise problems, problems vary by island.

Oahu has the most complaints from stationary sources such as air conditioners and construction activity, while the neighbor islands, particularly the Big Island and Kauai, get the most complaints about animal noises.

The loudest noise Haruno has to contend with is a pile driver, which can measure 95 to 100 decibels, even at the boundary line of the project.

State law says the maximum permitted sound level for a residential, commercial or resort area is 60 decibels in the daytime and 50 decibels at night.

According to the state, Waikiki is a magnet for noise pollution, ranging from refuse collection to nightclubs and going to buses and air conditioners.

"I wouldn't consider Honolulu a noisy city, but it is so dense it does have a larger problem than many other cities," Haruno said.