Mifflin Street residents, city officials and members of the Madison Police Department met Wednesday to register parties for the weekend’s Mifflin Street Block Party and to convey their safety expectations for this weekend’s event.
Mifflin Street residents were encouraged to sign contracts at the meeting to register their parties under the Madison Resident and MPD Protection Plan, a strategy MPD is launching for the first time at this year’s party.
The plan outlines expectations for the registered party, including stipulations prohibiting underage drinking and alcohol sales, and in return offers the support of MPD to address disruptive individuals or unwanted party attendees.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said the plan, along with other measures MPD will utilize at Saturday’s event, are aimed at promoting a safer event than last year, during which three police officers were injured and two students were stabbed.
“We want to do everything we can to make this inevitable gathering on Saturday as safe as possible,” Verveer said.
Edgewood College student Indy Stluka, a member of a committee tasked with the planning of the block party, emphasized the protection plan allowed students to self-police their parties by hosting them in a legal context.
He added registering parties under the plan may help to prevent out-of-town individuals from crashing Mifflin Street parties.
“This is really an advantage for us to have a gathering that’s of a legal nature and not to be bothered by out-of-town individuals that made up about 70 percent of the tickets last year at the block party,” Stluka, who is also a Mifflin resident, said.
MPD Lt. Dave McCaw also outlined another protection the department will provide to house parties this year, dubbed the Amnesty Program. The program differs from the protection plan for registered house parties because it will be applied to parties that are illegal and out of the control of their hosts.
Under the Amnesty Program’s policies, a house party operating illegally can call MPD and ask to have the party dispersed. Once officers have shut down the party, hosts are prohibited from continuing any sort of event at their residence for the remainder of the day.
McCaw emphasized that although some protection is provided under each new program, citations may still be given out to hosts.
“If you have a pound of cocaine on your coffee table, I can’t just walk away,” McCaw said.
MPD officials also stressed other major changes to the 2012 Mifflin Street Block Party that have not been seen in previous events, including stringent enforcement of trespassing laws.
McCaw said unlike past years, trespassing on Mifflin Street properties will be strictly enforced by MPD officials as a result of the “no trespassing” signs provided to parties registered under the protection plan.
Another key change to the party will be MPD’s no-tolerance policy for loud music. Because no street permit has been issued, electronically-augmented music is prohibited during the event. Failure to comply with this may result in a $177 citation, McCaw added.
Other tickets that police say they will issue on the day of the block party include open intoxicants, which carries a $303 citation, procuring alcohol to an individual under the age of 21, which carries a $366 citation, and underage drinking, which includes a $177 citation.
