NEWS
PACE leaders discuss impact of new fines
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by Megan Costello
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
City citations and fines for disorderly behavior due to alcohol are set to increase in Madison after recommendations by the Police Alternatives Community and Education project in accordance with the Madison Police Department and city officials.
Increased fines include open intoxicants and glassware on public streets, for which costs will rise from $102 to $288. The fine for selling alcohol without a license will escalate from $350 to $660, and disorderly conduct fines are set to rise from $164 to $412. Students are also reminded public urination fines will increase from $65 to $184.
According to Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, the police department has promised to reduce the number of citations per party now that the alcohol-sale fine has been doubled.
Verveer, a member of the PACE project, said he is in support of the increased fines.
Verveer said he believes increasing the fines is relevant because the price of tickets have not been increased in over a decade and also because the city puts tremendous amounts of money into the Halloween and Mifflin Street events.
“There are definitely some City Council members that highly criticize, both privately and publicly, the amount of money the city spends on these alcohol-fueled ‘binge-drinking fests,’” Verveer said. “Madison taxpayers are the people paying the costs and the costs of policing. Student-party costs are picked up by party-goers.”
Assistant Chief of Police Luis Yudice agrees.
“We hope that by increasing fines, we can move the Halloween experience away from past behaviors, but also encourage students to have fun, too,” Yudice said.
Members of the PACE project are in support of the increased fines after a report by the Harvard School of Public Health. The report, which came out on Sept. 10, stated cities and campuses with tighter regulations on alcohol are able to reduce student drinking rates and alcohol-related problems.
Yet even with increased regulations, a fine line was still drawn on which fines to increase.
“We are not raising the costs of underage drinking tickets, fake IDs and procuring alcohol for minors,” Verveer emphasized. “None of those are increasing. I drew the line at citations that will be used more often than not on State Street during Halloween.”
Citywide fines are in the works to be written and implemented by Halloween weekend.
The City Council will recommend the proposal to the Board of Estimates Sept. 21. After review by the Board of Estimates, the proposal will be voted on by the City Council on Oct. 5, according to Yudice.
After the Oct. 5 vote, changed fines will become city law.
Many students disagree with the plan, claiming it will do little to curb student drinking.
“I don’t think raising the fines is going to stop students from drinking at all, especially during Halloween weekend,” UW sophomore Aaron McCann said. “People are still going to go out and drink on Halloween weekend, or any weekend, regardless of high fines.”
McCann said there might be better options of controlling the crowds and high-risk drinking on campus.
“The police presence needs to be stronger if it’s going to affect any behavior,” McCann said.
But among city officials, support still remains for the increased fines.
According to Yudice, the plans to increase city fines have been in the works and discussion for some time.
“We’ve found that our city fines lag behind the fines of the UW police,” Yudice said.
However, the city fines are still lower than state fines, he added.
PACE remains set on a campus-wide drink-special ban after 9 or 10 p.m., according to Verveer. At Tuesday’s meeting, they discussed the possibility and have tentatively scheduled it for further discussion.
The PACE project also sought to more specifically define its current course of action for the 2004-2005 year during the meeting.
Members of the project committee, including police, University of Wisconsin students and Dean of Students Loulou Hong, discussed a number of drinking policies on campus.
One of the committee’s primary concerns included the new alcohol regulations in residence halls as well as Halloween plans. New Halloween plans include stadium-like lighting to be turned on at 3 a.m. to designate a party-ending time and a large increase in city fines.
