Quiet hours in Southaven, MS — also called the noise ordinance, nighttime noise rules, or residential quiet time — define the hours during which excessive noise is prohibited.
Southaven, Mississippi does not adopt a decibel-based noise ordinance and does not establish set numerical quiet hours. The city instead applies a general nuisance standard that prohibits playing music by a loud band or instrumental devices utilizing sound amplification so as to unreasonably disturb the peace or quiet of neighboring persons. Mississippi Code Annotated §97-35-9 separately makes it unlawful to disturb the peace of any family or person by loud or unusual noise, punishable by a fine up to $100 or up to six months in jail. Complaints in Southaven are routed to the Southaven Police Department non-emergency line at (662) 393-8652.
Southaven is a Title XI general-law municipality in DeSoto County and exercises its police power through the Code of Ordinances published on Municode. As confirmed by Southaven City Attorney Steven Pittman in a September 2021 DeSoto County News interview about Hernando's then-new noise ordinance, Southaven's local rule does not designate decibel thresholds or specific time windows when amplified sound is or is not allowed. Instead, the controlling local language prohibits playing music by a loud band or any instrumental devices utilizing sound amplification in any manner so as to unreasonably disturb the peace or quiet of neighboring persons or those in the vicinity. Enforcement therefore relies on a reasonableness test: officers responding to a complaint evaluate volume, time of day, frequency, distance from the source, and the surrounding zoning context (single-family residential complaints are weighed differently than commercial or arterial frontage). Mississippi state law fills in where the local code is silent. Miss. Code Ann. §97-35-9 (Title 97, Crimes; Chapter 35, Crimes Against Public Peace and Safety) makes it a misdemeanor to willfully disturb the peace of any family or person by loud or unusual noise, with a penalty of a fine not exceeding $100 or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months. Miss. Code Ann. §97-35-7 separately criminalizes refusal to obey a lawful police command to leave or quiet down (carrying up to a $500 fine or up to six months in jail). Southaven Municipal Code Enforcement (located in the Building Department at 8710 Northwest Drive) handles non-criminal nuisance follow-up, while the Southaven Police Department handles real-time complaints through dispatch. Because there is no fixed daytime/nighttime cutoff in the local code, late-night amplified parties, idling vehicle stereos, and outdoor band performances are evaluated case-by-case against the reasonableness standard. Residents in subdivisions governed by HOA covenants may be subject to additional private quiet-hours rules that the City of Southaven does not enforce.
A first response from the Southaven Police Department typically results in a warning and a request to lower the volume. Continued or repeat violations of the local nuisance language or of Miss. Code Ann. §97-35-9 can result in a misdemeanor citation carrying up to a $100 fine and up to six months in the county jail. Refusing a lawful officer command to disperse or quiet down is separately chargeable under Miss. Code Ann. §97-35-7 (up to $500 or up to six months). Code Enforcement may also issue municipal nuisance notices for chronic disturbances tied to a specific property.
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