Two officers stood at the exits while two others readied themselves at the entrance, a throng of people clearing out of the way. “Are you ready?” the sergeant asked. I nodded in agreement, and we entered the bar.
Sgt. Scott Kleinfeldt, a Madison Police Department Community Policing Team member, allowed me to ride along with him during his 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. patrol of the State Street area Oct. 12. His first stop was Hawk’s Bar and Grill, which was jam-packed with people dancing, sitting and, of course, drinking.
Kleinfeldt began asking for the IDs of several baby-faced drinkers. As Kleinfeldt expected, they were underage.
Seventy people scuttled out of the bar after we entered, according to one of the officers at the exit. Hawk’s has a capacity of 99.
“What does that say when over half the people leave a bar when they see a cop?” Kleinfeldt asked, scribbling down case notes. “We’ll definitely be coming back here.”
The officers confiscated four fake IDs from fleeing individuals brazen enough to show them to the cops. Collectively, the number of underage drinkers running out of Hawk’s was too much for the officers to stop.
“They were coming out in packs of sixes and sevens,” one officer reported. “There were several who ran into the bathrooms, and I didn’t bother chasing them.”
One officer expertly summed up the night—which not only followed a Badger win against Northwestern, but was also Homecoming weekend—when he said, “You’d have to be sober to stand out in this crowd.”
Kleinfeldt said his typical night involves tavern inspections, which includes officers entering bars to check if they are over capacity, making sure bouncers are checking IDs, seeing if the bartenders are over-serving patrons and checking for underage drinkers.
The officers then present their findings to the bar owners and tell them to fix the problems. The bars could face fines and potential action from the Alcohol License Review Committee if they do not implement policies to prevent underage drinkers from entering the bar.
“We aren’t looking to bust people,” Kleinfeldt said. “Our biggest concern is safety.”
Kleinfeldt stressed that a student’s first concern should be safety, not worrying about a ticket.
The police are not asking students to be perfect, Kleinfeldt said. He described a number of scenarios where overly intoxicated students were alone and were mugged or sexually assaulted.
“If you’re with friends and being helped home, I’m not going to stop you,” Kleinfeldt said. “It’s when you’re stumbling alone that it becomes a concern.”
Kleinfeldt proved his convictions when we drove past a group of students who were holding up their intoxicated friend. “Are you taking him home?” Kleinfeldt asked through a rolled-down window. The students holding their friend managed to stutter “Yes.” Kleinfeldt responded with, “OK, bring him home now,” and continued to drive, ignoring the possible ticket.
Almost immediately after the sergeant finished describing a scenario of what could happen if students do not have friends with them while intoxicated, he received a call from outside Madhatters.
Two squad cars and an ambulance were already at the scene. The incident involved an overly intoxicated girl being left by her friends in the middle of West Gorham Street because they could not take care of her.
During the ride along there were only a couple F-bombs slurred toward Kleinfeldt, all after he asked them not to sit in the street. A majority of the inebriated State Street crowd was friendly, and there were several instances of students approaching Kleinfeldt and asking for directions, phone chargers or just to say “Hi.”
Kleinfeldt explained how half of his job is establishing a rapport with students. He described a situation in which he went out of his way to give a ride to a drunken student who was alone and made sure there was someone at the house to take care of him instead of giving a ticket.
“Little gestures can go a long way,” Kleinfeldt said. “Even something like talking with a student early in the evening might prevent them from doing something regrettable in the future.”
