This Saturday I had the greatest Halloween experience, an experience to which I owe thanks to the Madison Police Department. Until the wee hours of the morning, I had the privilege of observing Detective Steve Koecke and neighborhood officers Meredith York and Mike Edler in action as they kept watch over the annual State Street carnival. Needless to say, anybody who knows anything about Madison knows about the annual Halloween celebration and everything that accompanies it. The police department was using the portion of my residence hall that overlooks a section of State Street as a crows nest to monitor the crowd in order to be, according to Edler, \the really thin blue line.""
Initially, the idea of working all night Saturday to take care of freshmen revelers and their guests did not sound as fun as one would imagine. Thankfully, it was fairly quiet in the building, so I spent the majority of my time losing at ping-pong and spending time with the various Madison police officers that came in and out of the building all night. While most of what they did was simply watch the crowd and compliment various costume designs, there were a few instances where they had to direct or assist officers in maintaining safety and order. Over the course of the night, the different officers shared with me their insights and horror stories that one can only possess after working decades on the Madison Halloween beat. The more I talked with them and watched them in action, the more I felt that the police department needed a ""thank you"" from the student body.
All too often, police officers are seen as menacing authority figures out to stop students from having too much fun, especially on Halloween night. Edler argued that too much control on Halloween is impossible. ""What fun are we preventing? We have a ratio of a few officers per thousand people, and all we are trying to do is protect property and safety."" They estimated that there were about 70 Madison Police Department officers managing the Halloween masses Saturday night, with revelers numbered in the tens or even hundreds of thousands. The officers did what they could, but for the most part, the crowd was best described by Detective Koecke as ""pretty self regulating.""
Over the course of the night, the officers that passed through my building assisted in stopping brawls, typical weekend cases of alcohol poisoning, and the inevitable Halloween anarchy. As always, a few bonfires were lit along State Street and early Sunday morning tear gas was used to break up a large mob vandalizing storefronts. Those officers were prepared for anything, because according to them there is nothing more frightening than large amounts of intoxicated, costumed, anonymous people concentrated in a relatively small area. York, a familiar face on State Street and campus, still remained optimistic about Madison Halloweens. ""We've been spoiled recently. Years ago, people would be setting large bonfires that students and officers would be pushed into."" The officers attribute the decline in the level of Halloween anarchy to a de-emphasis on the importance of Halloween celebrations, but large sections of State Street serve as testimony that the annual holiday tradition has not become quiet by any means.
Perhaps spending the night watching Madison's finest in action was not how I planned to end the Mardi Gras of the Midwest, but I admit that in doing so I came away wiser and more appreciative. Detective Koecke and Officers Edler and York were nothing but professional, courteous, and friendly to the residents and employees of my building, the revelers they had to interact with, and myself. As I write this, the masses are starting to drift away from State Street to recover from the weekend's excesses, put their costumes away, and prepare for another week spent in the pursuit of knowledge. The police officers will grab whatever sleep they can and get up for another day in the trenches. Police are not uncool, fun-ruining boogeymen, but human beings trying their best to make sure everybody has a fun, safe time while in Madison. Thanks.
