To the editor:

On Saturday, at about 6 p.m., a very unusually loud party with music and a carnival barker on a loud speaker directing activities erupted near our home. At first we thought it was in Van Cortlandt Park, but discovered it was in a yard on Spencer Terrace. After about an hour my wife went over and asked them, "Why so loud?" The beer-drinking adults said it was for the children. She asked them to reduce the volume, but they refused in the name of the children.

She said she would ask the police to intervene and they said there were police already there, presumably guests at the party to celebrate the child's graduation. When she got back I called the 50th Precinct.

I told an officer that I wanted to complain about a loud party on Spencer Terrace. The offi- cer said the phone was breaking up and hung up. I was calling on a landline. I called back 20 minutes later and asked if I could complain about noise and the policeman said the line was better, listened to my complaint, didn't ask who I was or my address, and said nothing about checking it out. No change in the noise took place, but the party ended at 10 p.m.

The way the police responded to my calls, the statement the party-givers made about police already present, and the sense the party-givers had that they were immune to noise complaints made me wonder if it was a case of "All animals are equal but some are more equal." I know for sure one neighbor drove her baby to another location so the baby could fall asleep. There were probably many phone calls to the police because even though we were three or four houses and a street away it was so loud we heard every announcement and all the music very, very loud and clear.

Are our usually excellent local police playing favorites? I hope not, but fear so. I write this in the belief that The Press is our best defense against favoritism by the local authorities.

PHILIP BRANDT