A committee of city and campus officials met Monday to determine ways to control the crowd at this year’s Halloween festivities, following last year’s devolution into vandalism, and the necessity for police intervention.
Methods of party control include limiting the number of people allowed on the 500 block of State Street and raising punitive fines.
John Davenport, captain of the Madison Police Department, said just having more officers patrolling the downtown area would not be enough to control the crowds.
“We want to bring it back to a peaceful event,” Davenport said. “We have few means to do that other than presence and enforcement. Quite frankly, we have tapped all the police resources in our county to the limit.”
Assistant Chief of Police Luis Yudice said this year the MPD will substantially increase fines to discourage students from engaging in dangerous behavior. This permanent measure will be recommended to the City Council and voted upon.
Some of the increases include public urination fines rising from $65 to $184, open intoxicants going from $102 to $288, disorderly conduct increasing $164 to $412 and selling alcohol without a license escalating from $350 to $660. Yudice said he hopes the increase in fines will lead to fewer house parties.
The process of ticket-issuing will also change this year.
Charged party attendees will be taken in a police van to the City County building, where their tickets will be processed before they can be released.
Davenport said people engaging in dangerous behaviors would be removed from the area by police officers. This effort will set an example for others who might be persuaded to participate in risky behavior.
“Any disorderly behavior that has the potential to lead to more trouble will not be tolerated,” Yudice warned.
Police officers in attendance stated their goal is to make as few arrests as possible.
“Our objective is to reduce the number of arrests by publicizing the information early and often,” Yudice said.
Yudice added he hopes people attending the events on State Street from other states will realize the fines are going to be considerably higher.
Other issues were discussed at the meeting, such as renting large lights that will be turned on at a designated party ending time at 3 a.m.
Although police are not supporting a live band event, possibilities for a DJ on Library Mall have also been discussed.
Another change is a temporary police headquarters to be located at the University Inn, where the epicenter of events occurred in 2002 and 2003. The hotel has agreed to close the hotel to guests over the weekend and allow police officers to utilize the building during the Halloween events.
The committee also discussed using a barricade to limit the number of people on the 500 block of State Street, where the riots in 2002 and 2003 originated. Police would stop letting people into the area when the block becomes too congested.
The number of students exiting State Street bars has also been an issue in past years, with both riots starting between 2:15 and 2:30 a.m. Because a state statute sets the bar time, the MPD cannot stagger the time to limit the flow of patrons into the streets.
Jill Lundberg, business improvement district manager from Downtown Madison, Inc., handles the State Street and Capitol Square area. Lundberg has been working with restaurants interested in staying open until 3 a.m.
Few restaurants are willing to remain open because they are concerned for the safety of the buildings and their employees, Lundberg said.
“There are several restaurants that are already open past bar time where students know they can get food an hour or two past bar-time,” Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said. “On Halloween weekend, they have lines out the door and have their biggest sales of the year.”
The MPD is also considering adding concert lighting from the 300 block to the 600 block of State Street and placing officers on horse patrol in the area.
*–Megan Costello contributed to this report*
