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For the fifth year in a row, the Mifflin Street Block Party hit a record high in the number of arrests Saturday. According to preliminary numbers from the Madison Police Department, arrests climbed roughly 10 percent from last year despite a similar number of attendees.
Initial reports from the MPD indicate about 400 arrests at the 10,000-person party Saturday, the majority of which pertained to alcohol-related issues like open alcohol containers on the sidewalk or street. The numbers represent a trend of increased arrests and decreased attendance in the block party’s recent history.
Between 5,000 and 10,000 people attended the party in 2002, but police made only two arrests. That number increased to seven arrests in 2003, and then ballooned to 190 arrests in 2004, 225 arrests in 2005, 263 arrests in 2006 and 366 last year. Police estimates for attendance, meanwhile, have trended downward since 2003.
According to MPD Public Information Officer Joel DeSpain, at least 34 were arrested for underage drinking and at least five were cited for carrying glass containers.
DeSpain said there were no major fights or incidents during the block party, though a couple parties were shut down for excessive noise, a few porches were cleared for overcrowding and a couple people were taken to detox.
But for Ald. Mike Verveer, whose District 4 includes West Mifflin Street, the block party has gotten to a “clearly broken” point in its history, given there were no major disturbances during the event, yet MPD still hit a record number in arrests.
“I’m not blaming the cops. I’m just saying that their pro-arrest zero-tolerance policy of heavy enforcement of all laws makes it seem as if this party is absolutely out of control, which it is not,” he said.
According to Verveer, Madison and MPD officials have started to acknowledge the need for a more organized Mifflin event. He suggested the possibility of arranging a sponsorship to make the party similar to Freakfest, the name the city has given for its rebranding of the annual Halloween festivities on State Street in 2006 and 2007.
“I support closing the street if that’s what it takes, but I don’t support charging admissions,” he added.
Verveer said with a more organized event police would be more relaxed about giving tickets out, and students could have live bands and even obtain permits to buy and sell alcoholic beverages on the streets.
With the majority of the more than 400 arrested attendees receiving tickets for carrying open intoxicants, the sponsorship could save MPD a lot of work and partygoers a lot of money, Verveer added.
According to DeSpain, police cameras set up along Mifflin Street worked well as an extra manner of watching for safety concerns. The police enforcement of noise was not too much of a damper on the all-day party, though at least one party was shut down after receiving a warning, he added.
Forty-year Madison resident Rosemary Lee, a familiar face around the city, was present at the block party, reminding attendees with open alcohol containers to get off the sidewalk.
“Oh, I think it’s wonderful. It doesn’t seem as crowded as some years,” Lee said.
Joel Plant, a close advisor to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, said Saturday the party was going well as usual, and people were generally behaving fine.
“This event has waxed and waned over the years,” Plant said. “It would be nice if there was an entity that would come out and dig a permit for this and have a real legitimate event. But until we have that, we’ll continue to handle this event this way.”
Check out a slideshow of images from this year’s block party.
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Please don’t turn Mifflin into Freakfest! How disappointing would that be?
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hahaha, that photo is priceless. I love the two girls in the background…Girl 1: “NOOOOO!” Girl 2: “It’s OK honey, it’s OK”
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Interesting how the police are able to arrest and ticket hundreds of innocent college students who are doing nothing more than having a good time, and yet turn a blind eye towards the drunken homeless slobs staggering down State St. every day and night continually harassing these same students and families.
Increasing your arrest rates at an event like Mifflin doesn’t prove that you’re quality enforcers, it proves that if put in the situation you can successfully shoot fish in a barrel. Congratulations! Are you making commission on those arrests? It’s pretty sad when even the police department seems more focused on turning some sort of profit than doing what they are supposed to do, protect the people.
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Don’t worry officer douglas was a bitch all day long. Not only did she swear at several of us, she went out of her way to make life miserable for anybody in or near my house. Sad how the cops form grudges and hold them.
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I don’t think a person getting arrested for having an open alcohol container on a street should really count.
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2 arrests in 2002…I bet that year there were no underagers taking part in the festivities (or maybe the drinking age was still 18 at that point) and nobody was walking on the sidewalk with beer. Stop hiring more cops, and you wont have to arrest as many people to pay for them.
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Those graphs are all jacked up.
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maybe the event would be less about drinking, more about being awesome if the cops didn’t try and rape every house that had a band play these past 2 years…
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That girl in the picture looks like she just saw some Kent State sh!t go down.
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I’m glad I lived on this street back in 2002 and 2003 when this event was still worth attending. Yet another event our mayor, city, etc. are going to destroy.
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maybe that has to do with how the police react. it used to be you just had to dump your beer if you stepped into the street, now you are in cuffs
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With all of the money we raised through tickets we can afford to pay someone else to come in and protect our campus.
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Verveer is right, If houses could obtain permits for selling alcohol and musicians could get permits so they didn’t have to worry about noise complaints then there would be no more worries for current residents to get $8,000 worth of tickets like what has happened in the past. If you read what he says he doesn’t want to charge like “freakfest” he just wants to have it organized so that police won’t have to be so ridiculous with tickets. Also, I’m assuming if students can obtain permits to buy and sell alcohol on the streets that mean people would be able to walk around anywhere they wanted and not receive “open intoxicants”. i dont see how this idea could go wrong, less tickets, more people, more drinking and more music.
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to 7:35
don’t forget about the guy in the back going “sweeeeet” and the guy getting arrested thinking “duuuuude”.
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I agree with the Douglas comments. Her and the tough guy she was with all day came into my apartment. I was cordial and let them enter my house and I just asked what the reason for them entering was and the immediate response was “Are you trying to give me lip? Do you want to go to jail right now?” and I responded with I didn’t know why they were here and again he came back with “I’ll write you a ticket before you can even finish your next sentence.” So I asked again what the violation was and they didn’t have an answer besides “shut your mouth or your going to jail.” After 10 minutes of harrasment I wasn’t told why they came in or what rules I was breaking. More or less they just came to my house to show they they have power over students even if they aren’t doing anything wrong. Guilty just because i live on mifflin. Get a clue MPD.
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I find it absolutely ridiculous that the pigs in this city can’t seem to control the shootings, muggins, and countless other crimes going on, yet attack well behaved college students for simply crossing the street or sidewalk with open containers of alcohol. There’s countless other things the cops should spend their time worrying about than some college kids having a little bit of fun.
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The city is finally getting what they wanted all along, an end to the Mifflin event. The mentality is that the more students they arrest, the less people will come next year.
Since 1 out of every 20 people who attended was arrested, I would definitely say the event was a success.
Maybe next year they can dig up some old Prohibition law from the 1920’s that’s still on the books and use it to arrest everyone.
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Ok, first I was mildly annoyed with the MPD and now I’m all-out pissed — How can this city let the police waste their time/energy on Mifflin and not solve the random murders of innocent residents? I think the students should really go protest the city on this one, how about some priorities MPD - we need to be safe from murderers, not 19 year olds walking down a closed off street. Madison is really getting f*ed up.
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If houses wanted to sell beer, then they would be responsible for the fines that happen when a bar on State Street sells beer to a minor. And I doubt people would want to be carding everyone that goes into their house to make sure everyone is 21, when most of the people at the event aren’t even close to 21.
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8:03am - The police are enforcing the law, wah wah, cry me a river. I’d rather the police bother stupid college students that don’t know enough to stay on their property when holding open booze than homeless persons already hurt by society’s stereotype that they’re perpetually drunk, when they’re probably just staggering around because of mental and physical illnesses.
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You college students need to shut the hell up. Seriously. You deliberately break the law. Then you get arrested and/or ticketed. Then you claim you live in a police state? Who are you? Go join the army or something.
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maybe you should try to make the day more secretive
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7:17pm-Regardless of their state of mind/body, they are still harrassing students and walkers. They don’t get a free pass. Stop acting like you care, I’m sure you’d feel differently walking down State St. being harrassed.
Also, shouldn’t shutting down the street make Mifflin a “private” party, thus removing any reason for open intoxicants in public charges? Any answers?
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they should have had the block party today. all the po po were busy safe-guarding johnny depp & co.
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Seriously a waste of the states money to have so many cops and arrests at mifflin. The police presence is appreciated so that things do not get out of hand (2003 halloween riots) but they do not need to be so anal retentive about arresting for drunkenness and open containers. I saw a drunk chick sit down on the ground for less than a minute and the cops surrounded her, dragged her up, cuffed her, and walked her fast pace off mifflin street. Seriously?
I just think it’s an unnecessary amount of arrests and Madison has always been known for this party and it’s drinking. Things havent changed that much from the student perspective. Turning mifflin into a “freakfest” type of event would ruin the whole thing.