Wednesday, Madison police and officials reviewed a police surveillance video from Halloween weekend and discussed what, if any, steps Madison could take to prevent future riots.
Police and city officials lauded the tape, which was shot from the top of a building that overlooks State Street, as an effective way to see exactly what went wrong during this year's Halloween festivities.
\We will definitely advocate use of the camera again, both for learning purposes and as evidence of criminal behavior,"" said Central District Captain Luis Yudice, who headed the video presentation.
During the videotape itself, Capt. Richard Bach and Lt. Mary Schauf pointed out several minor altercations between students and police that ended without hostilities.
""We gave out a lot of citations instead of arresting a lot of people, and we tried not to seem overly aggressive,"" Bach said.
While some police remained optimistic the cold downpour Sunday morning would be enough to drive most students indoors, other officers were encountering dangerous warning signs of an impending confrontation.
""People kept coming up to me and asking when the riots were going to start,"" said UW Police Captain Brian Bridges.
At around bartime Sunday, police manning the video camera noticed an increase in the crowd on State Street. At around 2:30 a.m., a mosh pit formed near University Inn, 441 N. Frances St., and attempts by police to break up the mosh pit were met with thrown debris and a general ""packing in"" of the crowd in the area. Both police and city officials believed bartime had an impact on the ensuing riot that occurred.
""We need to look at bartimes ... things went really wrong at bartimes,"" Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said.
""While things were marred at the very end, the event was actually quite safe. The fact that there were no injuries points to the good work of police. However, the riot itself is unacceptable.""
The mayor and others at the meeting also suggested Halloween needed to become a ""local"" event again, citing arrest numbers that place 30 percent of those arrested on Halloween from Minnesota.
Other ideas mentioned at the meeting included the possibility of boarding up State Street, expanding detox centers, and being more liberal with pepper spray in the future.
At the end of the meeting, Yudice summed up his feelings about this year's Halloween.
""We were almost there this time, but almost isn't good enough.\
