Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, Madison police and members of the Halloween planning committees met Wednesday to address possible strategies to prevent similar outcomes in the future, based on the past two years of Halloween weekend riots.

At the meeting, Cieslewicz presented four possibilities to the 30 attendees to avoid large, drunk crowds from gathering on State Street in the hours after the bars close.

First, he said the city should look at bar times and possibly push back the time bars can serve alcohol and stay open.

“It is because when the bars close at 2 o’clock, people will rush to the streets and create a big crowd,” Cieslewicz said.

The second suggestion he offered was to examine the house parties and other activities the students are attending during the weekend, including University of Wisconsin sponsored events, such as dances.

This past Halloween, police noticed an increase in calls to control house parties. At a previous meeting, police said the Langdon area and Mifflin Street had numerous parties that police responded to due to large crowds and drinking-related issues.

Cieslewicz also said the city should review the idea of bands playing on Library Mall, adding that he thought it was a good idea to have a live show. In hindsight, he said, the event could have been planned more effectively.

“However, due to the promotion on the band in the website, it attracts more people outside Madison and Wisconsin,” he said.

The last suggestion Cieslewicz made is related to the problems with the band promotion, to make the Halloween a more locally-focused event.

“We have to change the character of the event,” Cieslewicz said.

Halloween 2004 will fall on Saturday, and the mayor said he wants to push the time crowds gather and parade down State Street to earlier than 2:30 a.m. to change the tone of the event. He also proposed to have trick-or-treating for children in the afternoon.

At the meeting, Cieslewicz said, overall, nobody was injured and the comprehensive planning contributed to the near-orderly weekend. However, he acknowledged that planning for the event must continue in order to prevent riot-like incidents from happening.

“We cannot let it happen again, we should do better next year,” Cieslewicz said.

According to Mat Koehler from The Minnesota Daily student newspaper, about 98 percent of U of M students planned to come to Madison for Halloween. Police also said that Madison may host the biggest Halloween party in the Midwest.

Madison Police Central District Capt. Luis Yudice said although statistics showed many of the arrested were from Minnesota, the police department is not going to place blame on anyone in particular.

“Our record is not really that bad, but we need improvements by looking at what other cities do,” Yudice said. “But the problem of safety is not solely based on the police department, but also the community participation.”

Yudice said the department is currently looking for ways to “improve the situation” to prevent the disastrous outcomes of the previous years.

One of the ways to improve is to keep using the overhead camera that can film 500 blocks with good resolution, Yudice said. This camera was placed on the corner of Francis Street and State Street on both Friday and Saturday nights of Halloween weekend. The camera was used during the event and also after the event to identify targets who were inciting the crowd or breaking the law.