One week after 232 alcohol tickets were issued to University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee students, residents of the area reported seeing fewer college students.

Kay Baldwin, president of the Murray Hill Neighborhood Association, a group of Milwaukee residents near the UW-Milwaukee campus, said there seemed to be fewer students in her neighborhood after the crackdown.

“There did not seem to be as many students around and traffic from the dorms into the neighborhood seemed to be less,” Baldwin said.

The tickets, totaling almost $30,000, were issued the weekend of Jan. 28 when police broke up five parties near the UW-Milwaukee campus.

The tickets were part of a crackdown on student gatherings open to the public where hosts charge at the door, which police say are run more like bars than parties, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Violations included underage possession of alcohol, sale of alcohol to minors and selling alcohol without a license.

Baldwin called the parties an extensive problem and said the parties go on every weekend, subjecting her neighborhood to nuisances such as excessive noise, litter, vandalism and public defecation.

Officials also expressed concern over the danger of an overcrowded party turning deadly in the case of a fire or panic.

A UW-Milwaukee sophomore, who wished to remain anonymous, said despite the tickets given out last weekend, she had not see fewer students at parties.

“There were still a lot of people there that didn’t seem to be worried about getting tickets,” she said.

The student added while parties may be a problem, they are not unique to the UW-Milwaukee campus.

“The big parties that are being busted do get pretty crowded … but I don’t think it’s any different from parties at other universities,” she said.

Baldwin said problems related to UW-Milwaukee student parties escalated this fall after slowing down in recent years.

“This past fall, it just took off all over again, and it goes on every single weekend,” Baldwin said.

Baldwin added the university could do more to curb off-campus student behavior that is illegal through measures such as modifying its code of conduct, which is currently only enforced on campus, to apply to off-campus behavior.

UW-Milwaukee Student Association President Brett Belden said while the Student Association has not taken an official stance on such a change in the code of conduct, the university should carefully consider the implications of changing the code.

“If UWM is seriously considering changing the code of conduct to apply [to] off campus, they should take into serious account what effect that will have on the student population and whether it’s applied fairly,” Belden said, adding that such a change would need a “fair and equitable” way to enforce it.

UW sophomore Alex Pacheco said although student house parties near the Madison campus generally get out of control, he thinks neighborhood people are overreacting. He added issuing a lot of tickets will likely not do anything to stop underage drinking.

“I think kids will drink either way, and I don’t think the school has much to say about students’ choices,” Pacheco said.