Madison Police Department officers are teaming up with city officials and will make combating underage drinking at Saturday’s annual Mifflin Street Block Party a top priority.

Mayor Paul Soglin said allowing partygoers of legal drinking age to consume alcohol in the streets – the biggest change to this year’s party – brings an edge to the event and also raises additional concerns for keeping the event safe for attendees.

Although he said the city faces a number of concerns surrounding underage drinking as the event approaches, Soglin said his main worry pertains to the underage kids from the surrounding area who drive to Madison for the event with the intentions of obtaining intoxicants.

“The fact that they have access to an automobile imposes a serious hazard to themselves and others,” Soglin said. “One thing we want to emphasize is not only the fact that we will be paying special attention to underage drinking, but also paying careful attention through the course of the afternoon to peoples’ driving habits. We are hoping folks are concerned of their own safety … and are going to be cognizant to the dangers of drinking and driving.”

After attending the block party throughout the past 40 years, Soglin said attendees who witness their friends or neighbors over-indulging or abusing alcohol should take the necessary steps to stop it before it gets too dangerous.

MPD Lieutenant Kristen Roman said it would be difficult to predict how the new allowance will affect the number of arrests at the party, but said the department will still be putting its main focus on underage drinking, stressing while open intoxicants would be allowed, illegal consumption would still be impermissible.

Roman said the new permission would also not require MPD to staff more officers for the event, and the number of officers assigned to the event is comparable to previous years, with a few minor adjustments.

Officials with MPD have done a “tremendous amount” of work leading up to the party in order to make expectations clear to community members about what behavior would be tolerated and what kind of responses would be given based on certain behaviors.

“The word is out as to what is expected,” Roman said. “There will be a method to identify those who are [of legal drinking age] – certainly those who do not purchase their alcohol through vendors would potentially draw some contact based on any behavior or observations as to their legal drinking age.”

If partygoers adhere to MPD expectations and demonstrate “personal responsibility,” Soglin said there would be significant economic benefits for the city.

Soglin said the fewer expenses the city faces to address problems of bad behavior and arrests, the more money the city would have to apply to programs like social services and real crime fighting.

“I am here with one observation and one message and it has a lot to do with the cost of the event,” Soglin said. “Even without the problems we’ve got at the state Capitol, the city has been facing some very, very tough times in regards to expenses. There is still an opportunity of tremendous savings – if we can keep the arrests to zero, we can still have an additional tens of thousands of dollars.”