The jury is still out on whether a voluntary drink-special ban by downtown taverns is effective against alcohol-related crime.

University officials, police and city workers agreed in a meeting Tuesday that they need more time to study current data indicating that the number of crimes involving alcohol rose slightly Thursday nights, dropped Fridays and stayed the same Saturday nights.

University of Wisconsin staff has studied the effects of the year-long ban of Friday and Saturday night drink specials, but has not drawn any conclusions from the data.

Twenty five downtown bars, including Madhatters, State Street Brats and the Nitty Gritty, suspended the weekend specials last September after a long battle between the tavern owners and the city over threatened drink-special regulation.

Alcohol License Review Committee member Stephanie Rearick echoed several of the members’ observations about Madison’s need for more underage alternatives for younger students who want to accompany those who go out and drink.

“There is a tension between students who can’t drink in bars that are under 21, so where do you want them to go?” Rearick said.

Dean of Students Luoluo Hong said the data is not conclusive because, although Thursday night bars are filled with students, a mix of people visit bars on weekend nights and the study did not separate student violations from adult violations.

UW police said only half of all citations they issue are given to UW students, even though most are between the ages of 18 and 21.

There is always a spike in alcohol-related violations in the fall, police said, particularly on football game days. The officers said they would even use the Oct. 11 Ohio State game as a “test run” for the law enforcement necessary on Halloween.

The coalition discussed several ways to quell the chaos on Halloween weekend, suggesting setting up stations along State Street with food and water and encouraging bars to serve food late into the night rather than alcohol only.

University officials said they did not plan to throw any alternative Halloween events throughout the weekend — an idea discussed in the past — but said they want to somehow decentralize the activity on State Street.

Police told coalition members they would increase staffing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights next Halloween and planned to use a “Mifflin-type” strategy, which involves sending large numbers of officers out on the streets early so the cops are clearly visible to the crowd.

The coalition also discussed the new “house party guide” issued by the University’s Policy, Alternatives, Community and Education (PACE) group.

Two coalition members questioned whether PACE was sending mixed messages to students, pushing them out of bars as a result of drink special bans and fake ID citations and, at the same time, designing safe house party guides. PACE Principal Investigator Aaron Brower disagreed.

“It’s important to think about the overall message and not caricature it,” Brower said. “We’re not concentrating on drinking itself as much as the consequences.”

Brower said some of PACE project’s main goals are to regulate drink specials, explore parental involvement in student drinking and address dangerous house parties.

Madison police Lt. Mary Schawf said she wants landlords to become more involved in cracking down on house parties. She said the police department notifies landlords whenever they issue a citation to one of their properties, and landlords appreciate the notification.