At its best, Madison's annual Mifflin Street Block Party has been a peaceful day of revelry, music, celebration and relaxation the weekend before UW-Madison final exams. A chance for students and other residents to blow off steam, socialize and soak up a nearly 40-year-old tradition - along with a few beers.
At its worst, the block party has been a hellish, drunken debacle breeding riots, sexual assaults, fights and dangerous, alcohol-related accidents. A crowd of thousands bathed in booze that becomes a safety nightmare for police.
There's nothing more difficult for the police to try to provide security and safety for than an unsponsored, ill-planned and poorly coordinated event that revolves simply around drinking alcohol that 10 to 15,000 people - depending on the weather - will show up to,"" Madison Police Department Lt. Joe Balles, who helps plan the police presence and strategy for the Mifflin party, said.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, is one of the few vocal defenders of Mifflin, but he said he recognizes the potential dangers the party creates.
""I was a witness to every painful minute of the 1996 riot at this event. So I know that this has the potential for getting out of hand, but I also know that we have more police now than ever at this event,"" Verveer said.
More cops, stricter standards
To mitigate the chances of another wide-scale riot and to control the large crowd, MPD has increased their presence - but this increased presence has also chaperoned a stricter enforcement of the law.
""What we're definitely doing is setting a stronger tone. We're establishing a safer tone earlier in the day,"" Balles said, adding with the increased police presence, arrests have multiplied, increasing from 261 in 2006 to 489 in 2007.
Partiers can be given citations for underage drinking, selling alcohol to minors, noise violations or public urination, but, according to Verveer, the most common citation is for possessing an open alcoholic beverage in public.
Tom Wangard, a UW-Madison junior and a Mifflin Street-area resident who organized a petition to relax enforcement of noise violations at the party, believes the strict ordinance enforcements are a misuse of police power and efforts.
""The police should be focused on preventing theft and violent crime from happening rather than being concerned about whether you set foot on the sidewalk with a can of beer,"" Wangard said.
However, Balles believes the dangers from a large amount of people drinking in such a concentrated area necessitate the strict enforcement.
""I mean, [Mifflin block party] is just not smart. That's why we put such a strong emphasis on those minor violations - open intoxicants, public urination,"" Balles said. ""It's people's right to assemble, but it doesn't mean they have the right to stand in the middle of the street and drink a beer.""
MPD Central District Capt. Mary Schauf contends that police standards and expectations are well-publicized and conveyed through media and community meetings.
""We always have some people that want to draw attention to their behavior down there,"" Schauf said. ""The ideal would be that our arrest numbers would actually start to go down because people would voluntarily comply with the rules that day.""
Dangers of a massive crowd
According to Balles, one of the greatest dangers of Mifflin is that there are so many strangers at house parties, making the situation harder to control and leave hosts and guests open to crime.
""You can't have a much more dangerous situation than what you're going to have on Saturday where you think about letting all sorts of strangers into your house down there,"" Balles said.
According to Balles, less than half of arrests at Mifflin are of UW-Madison students.
""We want to believe this is some student event, but the fact of the matter is it really attracts people from all walks of life, including transients and predators who are down there to prey on people,"" Balles said.
Schauf stressed the need to curb these ""mega-parties"" where hosts have hundreds of strangers roaming premises undeterred, questioning the logic and safety of Mifflin's ""free-for-all"" mentality.
""If you look at some of the more colorful street life Madison has, how much of that colorful street life do you want wandering through your place?"" Schauf said. ""People literally open their doors to anybody and anything.""
Wangard echoed the police officers' concern, emphasizing the personal accountability residents should exhibit.
""I think that's definitely a huge personal responsibility issue. The people who are having the parties have to be aware of who's coming in, who's in their house, locking up their valuables,"" Wangard said.
The excessive alcohol consumption at Mifflin intensifies the risks posed by the large crowd and creates serious health hazards as well.
According to Schauf, the unique environment of binge drinking and relative disorganization in mass increases high-risk behavior and dangerous levels of drunkenness.
""It isn't even so much that people are drinking, but they are drinking way to excess. And because of this general lack of disorder, you have really, really, really drunk people,"" Schauf said. ""They can't walk, they're vomiting so badly, they're a danger to their life because they're so incapacitated by their alcohol.""
A valuable tradition
Despite the safety concerns and the extensive police presence, Verveer still views the Mifflin Street block party as a valuable Madison tradition that students value.
""I think the vast majority of students do appreciate the tradition. It's one of the neat things that makes Madison well known for being not only a top academic institution but also an institution where we know how to have a good time,"" Verveer said.""The Mifflin event does have redeeming qualities in that it allows students, and in particular the residents of the Mifflin neighborhood '¦ to celebrate spring and the end of the semester before many of them have to seriously hit the books and get to their final papers and exams.""
Lt. BALLES' TIPS FOR KEEPING YOUR PARTY UNDER CONTROL
'¢Know everybody who is on your property
'¢Have a guest list
'¢Rope off your property
'¢Only let people inside your apartment building who live there
'¢If you live in a multi-unit building, coordinate with all the other people that live there about what you're going to be doing on Saturday
'¢Post the property for ""no trespassing"" to prevent damage/unwanted visitors. ""Just call us. We have these big pink signs, we'll have [the owners] sign a trespassing letter. The letter basically gives us permission that if we have anybody on that property where the signs are posted that don't belong there, we can arrest them.
