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More than 50 Mifflin Street residents and students gathered
Tuesday night to learn how to avoid behavior that could possibly cost them
hundreds of dollars in fines at Saturday’s block party, and a petition to relax
the city’s noise ordinance for the party failed to garner police support.?

Officials from Madison Police and Fire Departments warned
residents to look out for a laundry list of risky behaviors, like overcrowded
porches, loud bands, open kegs and curious high school students.

Police Captain Mary Schauf said the police presence on the
street will be strong in order to keep the thousands of partiers safe, not to
make thousands of dollars in citations including those for noise violations, a
hot topic at the meeting.

“My staff has committed that we will attempt to talk to you
and give you a warning ahead of time. We just ask that you cooperate and turn
it down a little bit,” Schauf said, responding to a resident’s question about
the police policy about noise control. “Sometimes our experience has been that
people just don’t want to cooperate, and in that case, we’ll write the ticket.”

The fine for “unreasonable noise,” defined by police as
noise that can be heard three houses away, is $172.

University of Wisconsin junior Tom Wangard presented his
petition on the noise ordinance, signed by more than 150 residents to officers
at the meeting, with little response from police.

Police said they will also be writing tickets for noticeably
overcrowded parties, especially balconies or porches which pose a safety hazard
in the event they collapse.

Fire Marshall Ed Ruckriegal said houses on Mifflin Street
are meant to hold about 50 people maximum and are considered overcrowded when
people are standing shoulder to shoulder.

When officers notice porches starting to cave in, Community
Policing Team officer Dave McCaw said “panic mode” starts. In that case, McCaw
said police can enter a house without a warrant because the situation is imminent,
and they don’t have time to obtain one.

Residents also were concerned that anyone might be fair game
to be asked for identification at any party if police think the person looks
underage or is drawing attention to him or herself.

“For a person who is just enjoying themselves, not drawing
any attention from the police, that is extremely rare,” McCaw said.

Each arrest case for possessing alcohol underage or dispensing
alcohol will be investigated independently, Schauf said.

Of the more than 10,000 people from last year’s bash, 366
were arrested — mostly for going on public property (the sidewalk or street)
with an open container — and three houses received noise citations, a comparatively
miniscule percentage compared to how many people came out.

People arrested at the party are placed in plastic handcuffs
and escorted to one of two buses, where they wait to go receive a citation at
the City-County building near the Capitol. Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, who
represents the Mifflin neighborhood, said people are “arrested,” but that
really means they will be cited and released within a few hours.

“Don’t freak out if you see your friend being ‘arrested,’
being put in plastic handcuffs and being walked away, it means they are going
to be busy for the next several hours, but they will be released, and they
aren’t going to jail, so you don’t have to bail them out,” Verveer said.

The fine for possessing an open container on a public street
or sidewalk is $298.

McCaw also gave residents his work cell phone number in case
their parties get out of hand, volunteering to “be the bad guy” and kick
everyone out of a house.

UW junior Joe St. Peter, resident of the 500 block of
Mifflin, said the meeting was very informative and hopes his party does not
turn out like his Halloween party last fall, when he received $9,000 in fines.

“I’m going to heed the cops’ advice and probably not have a
band,” St. Peter said.

Wangard said the meeting was more of a one-way street, in
which police gave residents information without discussing the noise ordinance.

“I think over the past 40 years there haven’t been as many
problems and as many hoops to jump through with police as we see today,”
Wangard added. “Time will tell.”