Cathedral City, CA Public Conduct: Loud Party Ordinance (2026)

Chapter 11.40 of the Cathedral City Municipal Code makes party hosts pay when police have to come back. It applies when a large party or gathering occurs at a premises and a police officer at the scene determines that there is a threat to the public peace, health, safety or general welfare. The person in charge of the premises and the person responsible for the event are jointly and severally liable. If either of them is a minor, the parents or guardians of that minor are held liable. The chapter does not define a large party by head count; the officer's on-scene determination triggers it.

The charge covers police personnel on special security assignment over and above the services normally provided by the department. A second or subsequent response during any one twenty-four hour period to control the threat counts as that assignment. The city bills and collects the cost only if a warning was given on the first response that such costs could be incurred if a second response should be required. The costs can include minor damages to City property and injuries to City personnel. The fee is based on actual costs incurred and cannot exceed $500.00 for a single incident, and the City reserves its legal options to elect any other legal remedies when costs or damage exceed $500.00.

Noise has a parallel cost-recovery track in § 11.96.090. After an enforcement officer issues a written warning to a responsible person to discontinue a noise violation, that person is liable for the actual cost of each subsequent response required to abate the violation within seventy-two hours of the warning. The bill must be served within thirty days after the violation and must carry notice of the right to request a hearing to dispute the charge or its amount. The response charge is a civil debt to the city, and all responsible persons are jointly and severally liable whether or not they received a written notice. Chapter 11.96 is administered jointly by the city's police and code compliance division (§ 11.96.080).