A leader of the University of Wisconsin Police Department presented university police challenges in facilitating and monitoring the crowds at last year’s union protests Saturday.

Former UW Chancellor Biddy Martin was scheduled to speak but had to cancel due to health reasons, prompting Chief of Police and Associate Vice Chancellor Sue Riseling to give the keynote speech instead. The event was part of the Madison Civics Club’s celebration of its 100th anniversary.

Riseling said UWPD predicted the budget repair bill would provoke “maybe one protest.” She added they were neither expecting the protests would last 30 days, nor that the number of protesters would exceed 80,000 on a single day.

Nevertheless, Riseling said with the help of the Capitol Police, Wisconsin State Patrol, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and people from 198 different law enforcement agencies across the state, officers maintained peaceful relations in and around the Capitol building.

Riseling said the biggest challenge the department faced throughout the protests was the response to the closure of the Capitol building. On Feb. 18, the department was given 20 minutes to close the building, which was filled with more than 30,000 people.

Riseling and her team refused and instead created a scaled-down plan that closed the building on Feb. 27. The response to this plan was much more positive, she said.

Following the protests, Riseling said she received angry emails and letters claiming she should have chosen a political stance with respect to the bill proposal.

“I am a law enforcement professional, not a politician,” Riseling said. “It is not my job to choose sides. It is my job to facilitate the use of the First Amendment, not to combat it.”

Emily Auerbach, a UW English professor, also gave a speech on The Odyssey Project, which provides low-income adults with an opportunity to begin earning a college degree, before Riseling spoke at the event.

In an interview after the event, Auerbach said Riseling’s speech showed her abilities to lead the department.

“She made it clear that she serves the public, not a political viewpoint, and that she had to overcome initial resistance at the idea of a woman being in charge of operations on this scale,” Auerbach said in an email to The Badger Herald.