NYC’s hidden ‘noise cameras’ issue $1.7M in fines: ‘Things have gotten worse’

A dozen city “noise cameras” secretly monitoring for loud motorcycles, honking cars and music-blasting vehicles have doled out more than $1.7 million in fines in the past few years, The Post has learned.

“The only complaint I’ve gotten from constituents is that they want more [of the cameras] on their block,’’ City Councilman Lincoln Restler of Brooklyn told The Post. 

“In the last handful of years, things have gotten worse,” said Restler, whose office paid for the latest camera to be installed — a $40,000 device on Brooklyn’s Tillary Street near the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges — from its own budget.

“Neighbors are frustrated by the noise, and they feel like it’s really hard to do something about it” without the additional surveillance, he said.

The councilman described an influx in reckless driving, loud mufflers and exceedingly booming music that “just became more prevalent” after the pandemic.

Those issues, coupled with constant traffic and loud honking, “severely undermine quality of life in our communities,’’ the pol said.

“We all live in New York City, we understand that there’s a certain level of noise that we have to deal with, but it should be within reason,” Restler said.

The Tillary Street camera is the newest addition to the city’s Department of Environmental Protection anti-noise fleet, which was started as a pilot project in June 2021. The program transitioned into full-time operation with the City Council’s approval in 2023.

Similar to speed and red-light cameras, the noise cameras capture a photo of offending vehicles’ license plates when the devices’ decibel meter register a sound above the city’s noise-code threshold of 85 decibels.

DEP staff then review the images and issue summonses starting at $800 – with escalating penalties up to $2,500 for repeat offenders, a rep said. 

The program has issued 2,037 summonses totaling $1,794,900 in fines, including more than $750,000 in fines this year alone, city records show.

About $610,154 of the fines have been collected thus far, the agency said.

The exact location of the noise cameras is kept under wraps. Cameras have been installed at rotating locations in every borough save for Staten Island. They have been used everywhere from Midtown and East Harlem in Manhattan to Long Island City in Queens to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

“It’s really frustrating when you know you can’t even have a conversation walking down the street or you can’t hear yourself thinking you’re on a park your own apartment because these drivers have such little concern for our community,” Restler said.

Hundreds of 311 complaints about loud music on Tillary Street alone have been logged since 2010, according to a Post review of public records.

Another 50 complaints reported excessive honking in the same time period.

Loud noises above the city’s threshold can cause higher stress levels, sleep issues and even cardiovascular problems, experts said.

Though Restler said he’s eager to expand the program, additional cameras are not funded in the city’s most recent budget — despite a 2024 law mandating at least five cameras in each borough no later than Sept. 30.

“This is an effective model for how we can rein in inconsiderate drivers and cyclists and motorcyclists who are causing a great deal of disruption and inconvenience in our community,” he said.

“I hope that the next mayor will follow the law,” he added, “and, at a minimum, install five new cameras each year across the city.”