The city has sanctioned a neighborhood block party. Droves
of college students weary from a year of studies will arrive early in the
morning to drink beer and pal around with strangers. Many of the street’s
residents have been preparing for the party all year and invite friends to
enjoy a keg in the yard.

One of these friends gets animated while telling a story,
and his left foot slides onto the sidewalk while he holds a beer. Police
officers swoop in, handcuff the student and take him to a nearby parking lot
where fines will be assessed. Another friend decides to lighten the mood by
plugging in her guitar and performing a song; everyone joins in with
tambourines, bongos and washboards. The police swoop in yet again with a $172
noise violation ticket in hand because the song was clearly audible three
houses down — regardless of whether anyone complained.

This is Madison’s vision of justice.

America’s obsession with puritanical, counter-productive law
enforcement is embodied in the Mifflin Street Block Party. The obsession stems
from a philosophy that says it’s acceptable to make average citizens into
criminals for the sake of imposing a rigid moral code. It’s a philosophy that
has earned our nation a fifth of the world’s prison population. It’s a
philosophy that has earned us an endless drug war that has long been lost. And,
on a much smaller scale, it’s a philosophy that earns students a hefty fine for
playing loud music at a house while thousands of revelers party in the streets.
According to this dictum, the application of common sense while enforcing the
law is an unreasonable burden.

Disclaimer: I am a Mifflin Street resident. Last week,
Madison Police Department officers went door-to-door down the street, under the
guise of building a working relationship with the party’s many hosts. But in
reality, they passed out brochures and gave short speeches detailing all the
reasons they’re going to arrest us. The officers even took pains to applaud
themselves for having the courtesy to conduct the ludicrous exercise.

I foolishly tried to bargain with the officers, pointing out
that City Council President Mike Verveer urged them to consider relaxing noise
ordinance laws for the party. But the annoyed officers shot back, insisting
that that Mr. Verveer had no authority here. The department would blindly
enforce the rule, willfully ignoring the context in which it was created and
the voice of the people making the laws.

Of course, one question was noticeably absent from these
police briefings: Why?

Why does our city conduct this ridiculous game? Can a band
heard three doors down really disturb the peace of a party encompassing an
entire street? Does putting one shoelace on the line of a sidewalk truly
represent a safety risk? Does the distinction between a truly criminal act and
innocuous human error even matter? Or does the individual no longer matter when
law enforcement treats us as a mindless, intent-less herd?

Come Friday, the MPD will offer us their disturbing answers
to all of these questions. Perhaps you will receive these answers right after
they pose with you for that fake police brutality picture you want for your
Facebook profile.

Yes, the party devolved into violence years ago, and
reasonable regulations like the glass ban are certainly appropriate. But current
students should not be punished for the ills of previous generations, and such
restrictive sanctions — that don’t ensure public safety — should be
considered little more than punishment.

In the face of this impending law enforcement bonanza, it’s
easy to say, “Oh well, just follow the rules, and you won’t get in
trouble,” or “Who cares if a bunch of over-privileged drunks get a
ticket?” These complaints are valid for everyone who doesn’t see the
ideological disgrace of a police department willfully taking advantage of
otherwise law-abiding citizens. We live in a nation where the law is executed
by faithful public servants, not imposed on the populace for the sake of
bolstering the city’s coffers or an outrageously broad interpretation of their
mandate to “protect and serve.”

And the city has sanctioned this party, whose intrinsic
element — drinking in public during the day — is met with stiff fines by that
same city. The malicious treatment of Mifflin Street Block Party attendees
through a set of arcane logic-deficient rules is disgraceful. Criminalizing the
harmless actions of the common man is far beyond the dictate of any government
and an underhanded breach of our social contract with law enforcement. But the
city has sanctioned this party, too. And you can win an invite to the parking
lot hoe-down by taking one half-step over an imaginary line.

?

Bassey Etim ([email protected]) is a senior
majoring in political science and journalism.