[media-credit name=’Ben Smidt’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]In response to student concerns regarding the outcome of the Halloween weekend, members of the Madison Police Department and City Council and Associated Students of Madison representatives presented their thoughts and offered explanations for handling the event during a Tuesday night forum. Chief of Police Noble Wray pointed out that aside from some unintended consequences, the event was well planned and executed properly. “By many measurements, this was considered a success,” Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said. “There were no major injuries or incidents, though we understand [student] concerns.”

There was a large turnout for the discussion despite short notice from the police department and City Council members. Many in attendance expressed their concern for what they considered excessive use of force, particularly through pepper spray.

Throughout the Halloween celebration, Wray said police officers were encouraged to actively engage in dialogue with participants of the State Street festivities.

Once floodlights were turned on, officers expected the crowds to disperse and move on. “When the lights go on, the dialogue is over and it’s time to go home,” Wray said. Police officer John Davenport said announcements over loudspeakers positioned atop the University Inn were also used to signal the end of the night, although some contend that the announcement was never heard. Speakers at the discussion said the use of lights was confusing, and few realized their purpose.

Participants in the discussion also expressed concern that many people trying to get away from State Street were the ones officers sprayed. “When trying to manage groups returning to State Street, it becomes difficult to distinguish between who’s leaving and who’s returning to continue causing trouble,” Wray said, apologizing for these incidents. “There are going to be some unintended consequences when trying to maintain the peace for 75,000 people. We try to minimize those, and we apologize for that.”

Police officers said they felt their approach to using pepper spray was well studied and rational. The police lines and pepper spray were intended as deterrents, and people had ample time to leave the area, according to Wray. The timing and choice to employ pepper spray was also deliberated, as Wray said officers’ options are limited as how to respond to mob activity. “We’re not sitting around in our equipment waiting to get out there,” Davenport said. “We tried to maximize the avenues of escape. At no point did we attempt to catch crowds. We needed people to move on.” Wray added forces have improved on their tactics in the past few years. Verveer said strong winds caused pepper spray to spread to surrounding areas and back to officers.

The police representatives demonstrated the patience and collective approach officers took to controlling crowds and employing pepper spray through showing selected video footage. Though the video was absent of sound, it depicted the activity of the crowd and the police tactics used to break them up. The video also captured the start of a bonfire, with people rallying around and jumping through the fire. Additional footage provided by madisonriots.com was also shown, providing other perspectives of the fire.

Police said mob mentality facilitated the activity, but the situation never reached a riotous status. Police also said the pepper spray was water based, and said that contrary to popular belief, no tear gas was used, according to Davenport.

Wray and Davenport noted the size of Madison and the available resources to control the event. “It gets down to a resource issue. We’re a mid-sized city, and we we’re maxed out on available resources,” Wray said. Wray and others hosting the discussion welcomed all accounts of mistreatment for further review and consideration when planning and training for the event in the future.

The nature of the event predisposes it to being deemed “riotous,” according to Ald. Austin King, District 8. “When local media shows up and records limited footage and calls it a riot, that increases the expectation for there being a riot in the future,” King said.

All hosting the event encouraged input about the planning and outcome of the event. Police and council members encouraged more participation to help localize the event in the future to counteract negative outcomes and visitors fulfilling riotous expectations.