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Portsmouth Police to Crack Down on Motorcycle Noise

Police in Portsmouth say they are planning to crack down on loud motorcycles.

According to state law, an idling motorcycle should be no louder than 92 decibels. But knowing whether a motorcycle exceeds that limit requires police to have specialized gear and training.

Portsmouth Police Captain Frank Warchol says in the past, his department has relied on state police to catch offenders.

Now, in response to complaints from residents, Warchol says the Portsmouth PD is investing in the equipment and training it needs to enforce the law on its own.

“Basically what we would do – it’s almost like having a sobriety checkpoint. We’d have checkpoints set up in the city, so if we had a motorcycle that’s coming through, that motorcycle would come over and we’d test that motorcycle.”

Warchol says they hope to have a checkpoint in place before winter starts.

Jason Moon is a senior reporter and producer on the Document team. He has created longform narrative podcast series on topics ranging from unsolved murders, to presidential elections, to secret lists of police officers.
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