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Police gear up for Mifflin party

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In a meeting Tuesday night with Mifflin Street residents, Madison Police emphasized the success of Saturday’s annual Mifflin Street Block Party is dependent on residents taking responsibility for the safety of their parties and recognizing when a party is out of control.

“It’s going to be people’s behavior that will attract police to your party,” Central District Captain Luis Yudice said to the 50 students who gathered to hear the police guidelines for the block party.

Yudice said officers from the Special Events Team would be working with residents to “ensure a safe, fun event” while interfering as little as possible. He said no officers would be undercover or try anything “sneaky,” but that throwing things like beer bottles from porches or partygoers exposing themselves are incidents that would attract police to house parties.

Police assured residents they would not necessarily be held responsible for incidents that occur at their houses. If police are approached by residents who need help controlling their parties, they said they would ask residents what they would like police to do and try to honor residents’ requests.

In past years, most people have been able to drink responsibly and have fun, but according to Yudice, it is the combination of “strangers” who don’t have a stake in the neighborhood and increasing alcohol consumption as the night approaches that could cause the event to get out of control.

Among the guidelines discussed at the meeting was the law that parking will not be allowed Saturday on the 400 and 500 blocks of Mifflin, unlike last year; it is likely the blocks will be closed to traffic entirely by the end of the afternoon. Also, residents are required to end amplified music and bring parties inside at 8 p.m.

Yudice said that downtown, because of its highly concentrated population, already has the highest rates of sexual assaults, theft, battery, vandalism and car theft in the city. Since Saturday’s weather is supposed to be sunny and warm, the block party is expected to draw a crowd similar to last year’s 20,000, raising a greater concern for safety than an average weekend downtown.

“[The weather] is not so good for the cops, but good for you,” Yudice said to students.

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said the guidelines and laws in place are necessary to prevent the “devastating” riots that erupted during the 1996 block party. Caused by “idiots” who lit bonfires in the street, police and firemen who tried to extinguish the fires were attacked with beer bottles and rocks as the “mob mentality” took over.

Capt. Davenport, head of the Special Events Team that will be patrolling the block party, said he anticipates residents will abide by the guidelines discussed at the meeting, but it is still impossible to guarantee everyone’s safety when there is a crowd of 20,000 people.

“We wouldn’t be doing you justice if we didn’t plan for the worst,” Davenport said.

At last year’s block party, Davenport said there were two incidents of sexual assault during a time when 70 officers were patrolling the streets. He would not say how many officers would be patrolling Saturday, only that there would not be a “huge” number of officers rotating through the streets, but more officers would be available in the event they.

None of the students present had any objections to any guidelines or laws discussed.

“I think residents will abide by [the guidelines] until the evening comes, which is when most things go wrong,” UW senior Nate Viste said.