OPINION & EDITORIAL
Cops waste time crashing parties
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by Letters to the Editor
Monday, October 8, 2007
Last Wednesday, my nine roommates and I were served with an array of tickets totaling somewhere in the range of $14,000. The tickets were for a pregame party we hosted directly before the Iowa football game. At approximately 5:30 p.m., a team of four police officers knocked at our door, proceeded to kick everyone out and take down our names and information, telling us they would be back in the next two weeks with tickets for distributing, procuring and possessing alcohol underage.
What angers and concerns me about the affair isn't necessarily that we were busted, or that we owe an absolutely ridiculous sum of money to the municipality of Madison; it's that when the police came they introduced themselves as the newly established "House Party Police Crew." Indeed, these four officers have been appointed to a task of actively seeking house parties that they can raid and issue citations. So far this year, I have been in more houses busted than all of last.
In a time where the personal safety of students is, and should be, the central focus of the local police department, I find it horrifying that four officers are looking for parties to bust instead of patrolling the streets looking out for the security of students and citizens. In the last few weeks there have been a string of muggings, robberies and assaults, and while I know, in my heart, the Madison and University of Wisconsin police departments are doing their best, why assign four officers to look out for students who are simply trying to have a good time?
If there had been a fight, or a theft or injury at our Saturday pregame party I would have been quite thankful and certainly understanding of the police presence. However, in our case, there wasn't so much as a complaint from neighbors. The police officers admittedly came to our apartment under the suspicion that we might be breaking fire codes as they saw a "sea of red" on our balcony.
And so now I am put in an unfortunate situation. Now, I must not only look out for my safety as I roam the streets of my university town, but I also must be on the lookout for the "House Party Police Crew" while trying to enjoy myself on the weekends. And amid all this worry I can't help but think that my paranoia would subside if these police officers were patrolling the streets instead of houses.
I can safely say our two apartments have learned a lesson and our party throwing has been put to a stop. Now, I can only hope the weekend muggings will be put to a halt as well. However, removing officers from the street on weekend nights seems to be a roundabout way of accomplishing what should be the No. 1 goal.
Eric Grant
UW Sophomore
egrant@wisc.edu
Anonymous (October 8, 2007 @ 8:00am):
Quit whining. You broke the law, and you got caught. Do you seriously believe that if the police let you continue your illegal activities, then there would magically be no violent crime in Madison? Could those four cops simultaneously walk home every drunk student, protect every retail establishment against armed robbery, keep track of every violent parolee, etc?
Of course not. Then again, that's not the point. The real issue is that you're a spoiled, whiny brat who feels that the law applies only to other people, and you're trying to weasel out of this situation. Be a man and take responsibility for your actions.
Anonymous (October 8, 2007 @ 9:23am):
Letting students stay in houses for as long as possible at night seems to promote safety more than forcing them onto the streets as much as possible at night... just an observation.
--Damien C. Bordeaux
Anonymous (October 8, 2007 @ 9:43am):
Who is "forcing" students out of their houses and into the streets?
Anonymous (October 8, 2007 @ 10:33am):
The cops should be walking a beat, protecting and serving, not playing at Gestapo.
Anonymous (October 8, 2007 @ 10:53am):
The cops make money busting house parties and loose money busting muggers and petty thefts (legal fees, jail time, money not made busting parties during time spent arresting violent criminals,etc...) Unless students are willing to jerk the Madison PD around in court and make them have to at least fight for the funds from busting parties this is the way things will go. O and shut up with the crap about house parties being morally equivocal to other crimes. Crimes against ones self (alcohol, drugs, suicide) will never ever be seen as equal to crimes against others (robbery, assault, rape, etc...)
Anonymous (October 8, 2007 @ 11:33am):
On that same weekend, after the game, my neighbors threw a huge party at their place. A bit after 2 am, a bunch of randoms off the street, screaming "Go Badgers!" walked into the party, played around for a while, beat up the hosts, stole money and other goods and then took off. Please convince me that crime had nothing to do with a huge party/alcohol.
Anonymous (October 8, 2007 @ 11:50am):
Fire Codes? I hate to break it to you man, but chances are the "fire code" explanation was just an excuse for them to come bust you out. Take it from someone whose boyfriend (who happens to be latino)has gotten stopped and/or talked to by cops for: being parked in front of a friend's house waiting for him to come out, having a screw missing from his license plate, going 5 over, having too bright of lights, etc. Funny that each time he was stopped, he and his car were searched. Pretty sure the same thing happened to you; there aren't as many minorities on/near campus, so they resort to college students instead.
Anonymous (October 8, 2007 @ 12:14pm):
"Morally equivocal"? Perhaps you should spend more time studying and less time at house parties.
The city isn't getting rich off of alcohol and drug-related offenses. Do you realize how much alcohol and drug-related problems cost the public? Keeping everybody safe when a bunch of drunks are running around isn't cheap.
It's been demonstrated in the past (for example, look at New York in the mid 1990s) that cracking down on small crimes like public drunkeness and other types of disorderly conduct DRAMATICALLY decreases the rate of more serious crimes.
For what it's worth: I'm in favor of lowering the drinking age, decriminalizing drugs, etc. However, the police do not make the laws, and should not selectively enforce them.
Anonymous (October 8, 2007 @ 12:22pm):
"The cops should be walking a beat, protecting and serving, not playing at Gestapo."
Are you serious? The Madison PD respond to calls about house parties when people are either breaking the law in plain sight or are disturbing their neighbors. They typically issue citations.
The Gestapo helped perpetuate genocide. They executed people who opposed Hitler.
Could you please explain how the Madison Police are behaving like the Gestapo?
Anonymous (October 8, 2007 @ 1:02pm):
"The cops should be walking a beat, protecting and serving, not playing at Gestapo."
Are you f*cking kidding?
Sorry, I didn't know that busting house parties and issuing citations was the equivalent of making people dig their own graves and shooting them in the head.
Thanks for pointing that similarity out to me, I would have missed it otherwise.
Anonymous (October 8, 2007 @ 1:11pm):
@ 12:14
wrong they cracked down on turnstall jumpers and graffiti artist, these where viewed as gate way crimes. Public drunkenness in Madison as been a "gateway" crime since
A) most of the time the drunk person is a victim not an aggressor
B) People coming back from the library late at night seem just as likely targets as drunkards
C)The criminal element doesn't seem to be coming from the student body, the group that is most targeted by this police force
Anonymous (October 8, 2007 @ 2:01pm):
Yer right! I should have written "Stasi" - they were the ones famous for use of informants.
Anonymous (October 8, 2007 @ 3:27pm):
Just an FYI: the UW police and Madison police are VERY different in how they tend to handle things
Anonymous (October 8, 2007 @ 4:10pm):
Too bad Madison doesn't offer a course in common sense. Perhaps they do, and the police department is the professor.
Anonymous (October 8, 2007 @ 6:28pm):
The police forces of the occupied countries during the second world war, in most cases, helped the gestapo in perpetuating the holocaust. Many officers display the same behavior attributed to facists. Such as taking a minor or nonexistent offense (fire codes) and using it as an excuse to lead into completely different, more serious charges. The nature of the officers behavior-- the knocking at doors and taking names--in this instance especially echoes tactics used by the gestapo in rounding up Jews and anti-nazis.
Anonymous (October 9, 2007 @ 12:42pm):
I couldn't agree with you more! Honestly, I lived in Manhattan this summer and felt safer wasted at 2am than I do in Madison at 8pm! The police department needs to get their priorities right! Having to constantly be worried about your safety has larger effects on my ability to concentrate on school work than getting wasted before a football game. I understand that ESPN doesn't want to show drunks and when they do a game Alumni money goes up, but honestly what good is all that money going to do if there are no students! Get these people off the streets and in JAIL and then worry about the underagers!
Anonymous (October 9, 2007 @ 1:25pm):
I've called the police dpt earlier to report "real" crimes in the past only to have no one respond. I was told to call another number and leave a message and an officer would contact me later. I'm sure officers were far to busy carding underagers and busting parties to care about vandalism to cars or someone driving backwards loops around the capitol screaming out of his windows. Seriously it makes me sick to know some people think parties or whether or not you are 21 years of age is the real crime and where police should focus. Do you think a mugger one day had too much to drink which made him/her think hey now that I'm drunk I'll go get a knife or gun and steel a 90 year old womans purse. Could be but I'd have to think the decision was made long before a beverage.
Anonymous (October 9, 2007 @ 4:14pm):
i agree that madison cops are a lot more concerned with catching drunk students than safety of students. what about students who get kicked out a night football game for being drunk? they're kicked out and told to wander home...the cops know that they're intoxicated and at higher risk for being attacked, not to mention the streets are pretty much empty because everyone is watching the game...the perfect time for someone to be attacked. yet apparently the cops don't care as long as the drunk students are no longer in the stadium. ridiculous. i'm not saying that breaking the law is okay but i feel that with the high percent of students who do drink, focusing on safety and not "catching" drunk students should be a much higher priority.
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