The Madison Police Department is cutting back the number of officers for Freakfest this year in anticipation of a continued downward trend of arrests.
According to MPD spokesperson Joel DeSpain, about 80 fewer officers will be scheduled for the Halloween celebration, calling the event “far beyond a police event.”
DeSpain said the number of arrests has been decreasing over the last few years, and he hopes this trend continues. The number of arrests for 2008’s event was 77, down from 175 in 2007 and 235 in 2006.
“We are cautiously optimistic everything will go off without a hitch like previous years,” DeSpain said.
Lt. David McCaw also said during Friday night only MPD officers will be responsible for patrolling the event, calling this a “tremendous scale back.” This is a departure from previous years in which other agencies — such as state patrol officers — were used to help patrol the event.
“The people attending the event have changed drastically,” McCaw said, adding attendees are more responsible and less violent.
The police are also doing away with the arrest processing center this year, opting instead to issue citations to people and release them almost immediately, according to DeSpain. In the past, the garage of City Hall was used as a detention center.
DeSpain said there was a somewhat tense moment during last year’s celebrations, relating to State Street becoming very congested toward the stage near the Capitol. He said this year, the stage will be pushed back more toward the Capitol to alleviate some of the crowding.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said he is supportive of the cutback of police at the events, since there is no reason to think the trend of a peaceful event would not continue this year.
“I am very pleased that the police department has made the determination that they don’t need nearly as many officers as they have had in the past,” Verveer said.
Verveer added less streets will be closed to traffic this year, and these changes to Freakfest — using less police resources — saves taxpayers’ money.
The Freakfest event is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 31.
