State Street Halloween party revelers will not notice a distinct change in 2003, though police hope to make the event safer for everyone involved through many preventative measures following this fall's riot, according to Madison Police officials.
The Madison Police Department released its final report of the riots that rocked the 500 block of State Street after police attempted to disperse the crowd.
In the report, written by Captains George Silverwood and William Housley, the MPD takes responsibility for the understaffing on Nov. 2, the night of the riots.
\Officers working downtown were hearing that there would be a large party on November 2. Unfortunately, this information was not solicited and was not considered in the staffing decision,"" the report said. ""October 26, 2002 was staffed with two platoons from the Special Events team (SET) or about 36 officers ... This original plan also called for one platoon on Saturday, November 2.""
In the end, overtime, damage and supply costs for the five nights of police vigilance ran over $75,000, while business along the 500 block sustained $23,743 worth of damage and Badger Liquor, 402 State St. lost $7,300 worth of alcohol.
The police also issued a series of recommendations which focused on the inclusion of all relevant parties in the decision-making process and publicizing those findings across the state, diminishing the intoxication level of the crowd and adopting a pro-physical arrest policy for belligerent individuals. However, the changes do not recommend any attempt to stop or subdue the celebration.
""The cops have been stuck holding the bag for decades now and are the closest thing to an organizer,"" Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said. ""The city needs to be more involved from the beginning in planning the event.""
Paul Soglin, mayor of Madison during the 1996 Mifflin Street riots, said the solutions are integrated.
""If you have 40 officers and two or three really abusive people are intoxicated early in the evening and you need say two officers to handle each of these two people. If you take these people in, you lose 10 percent of your staffing. But, if you leave those people around they become very insightful,"" he said. ""If you got 120 officers, however, you can handle the really abusive trouble makers and still have an affective force to keep the them safe.""
The captains also discussed the possibility of other groups sponsoring off State Street activities for Halloween revelers to disperse the crowd, but added that they did not see the events having a significant impact on crowd size with which. Current Madison mayor, Sue Bauman, disagreed.
""Contrary to police recommendations, I would like to see bands in non-alcoholic venues,"" she said. ""I would also like to see costume contests or some kinds of things like that that are related to the event that are not on State Street and do not involve alcohol.""
