Thirteen people were transported to a detox facility during Halloween weekend and 29 people were cited for underage alcohol possession, according to new crime numbers from the University of Wisconsin Police Department.
The numbers, however, do not reflect numbers from the Madison Police Department. MPD numbers were due to be released Monday but will be released later in the week, MPD spokesperson Joel DeSpain said.
UWPD spokesperson Marc Lovicott said in a statement a number of dangerous drinking instances were reported over the weekend.
One such incident occurred early Sunday, when an officer found a student alone in Gordon Commons. He was highly intoxicated, and a preliminary breath test showed his blood alcohol content was .32. The student was taken to a detox facility, the report said.
Dangerous intoxication levels Halloween weekend. 29 underage alcohol citations; 13 detox transports. Details >> http://t.co/Nbp5DdNjy2
— UW-Madison Police (@UWMadisonPolice) November 3, 2014
Overall, though, the perception of Freakfest being a dangerous event full of vandalism has decreased substantially since the early 2000s, said Charlie Goldstone, president of Frank Productions, the group responsible for organizing the event since 2007.
“Now that perception has completely changed,” Goldstone said. “Everyone knows that it is a safe, fun, musically-oriented event and so people and the city look forward to it, rather than dreading it.”
While Freakfest has not undergone drastic changes since becoming a ticketed event in 2006, the Madison police made a few changes from last year’s Freakfest festivities.
One major change involved changing the location for the arrest processing center, Madison Police Department spokesperson Joel DeSpain said.
In previous years, the arrest processing center was located in the City-County Building several blocks away from State Street. This year, MPD utilized a Metro bus parked near the Overture Center for arrest processing.
With the new system, police issued citations on site instead of taking people to the City-County Building, DeSpain said.
DeSpain said he believes that the new location has been an improvement.
“I think it is better for those who have gotten in some trouble, it saves them time for having them to come to another place to be processed, and it saves taxpayer money as we don’t have to have as many officers [working on citations],” he said.
For future years, DeSpain said they would look into getting more police officers on the streets.
Though official attendance numbers for Freakfest have not been released, approximately 35,000 tickets were sold, DeSpain said.
When factoring in the people who were on State Street before the gates opened and those who snuck into the event, the number of event goers in the State Street area for the event was closer to the 45,000 to 50,000 range, he said.
At the end of the night, police were stretched a bit thin, DeSpain said.
