Kent City Council approved a new party registration program at its meeting Wednesday night that could lead to fewer citations.

In the next few weeks, the Kent Police Department will be working out the final details of the registration program, which will allow Kent residents to register their parties with the department two days in advance. Residents will provide a date and time of the event as well as their contact information.

“The idea behind the program is to help residents and the police department,” Chief Michelle Lee of the Kent Police Department said.

If police receive a noise complaint about the registered party, hosts will receive a call informing them of the issue, Lee said. Residents are guaranteed a grace period before the police arrive at the house.

“We basically give them a 20-minute window to either get the party under control, get people who maybe aren’t supposed to be there out and that sort of thing,” Lee said.

Lee also said this will help the police department free up officers. The police department will still have officers drive by the house to make sure everything is settled down; however, officers will not have to spend time trying to get everyone under control.  

According to Lee, the Kent Police Department is modeling their program after Clemson University, which implemented the program in 2011.

Clemson Police Department Chief Jim Dixon said this academic year has been the best year for the program yet.

“It has had some success in the first two years, but this year, we have seen the most improvement,” Dixon said.

Clemson’s 2013 incident report has not been released yet, but Dixon said the department has received 60 percent fewer noise complaints than 2012. In 2012, the number of registered parties almost tripled from the year before, going from 48 to 155 registered parties. Dixon estimated that nearly 300 parties were registered in 2013.

The Kent Police Department should have the program finalized within the next month. For ongoing updates on the program, check for updates on KentWired and watch TV2.

Contact Alexis Gillies at [email protected].