The Madison Police Department has been selected as one of seven finalists for the international Herman Goldstein Award for Excellence in Problem Oriented Policing for its work during Halloween.
All seven finalists will present their problem solving strategies Sept. 22 at the 19th annual Problem-Oriented Policing Conference in Bellevue, Wash. The MPD joins the Washington State Patrol and police departments from Boston; Arlington, Texas; and the United Kingdom as finalists.
The ability to say that [our presentation is] good enough to go share, the whole thing about being a finalist, is a huge compliment for our department, the city and our community,"" MPD Central District Captain Mary Schauf said.
Joel Plant, aide to Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, said being a finalist is a testament to not only MPD, but everyone involved in making Halloween in Madison safer, including UW-Madison students.
The MPD's strategy is built around Scan, Analyze, Respond and Assess - known as SARA - framework utilized to solve frustration with injury, property damage and costs of Halloween in past years, according to a city news release.
The MPD believes their presentation will be beneficial to conference attendees, especially police forces working on campuses.
Despite the international recognition, both Schauf and Plant said the Halloween celebration, now known as ""Freakfest,"" is still a work in progress.
""We're at the point now where we can say 'Do we still have a problem?' 'Do we still need to keep going?'"" Schauf said. ""We don't want to slip back. We don't want to become complacent.""
Plant, who is part of the presentation team heading to Washington next week, said the presentation focuses on work from 2002 to 2007.
""We had a real problem in 2002 and made steady progress over the years, and then in '06 we had a breakthrough year, in '07 we had continued improvement. This is a work in progress, and every year we make adjustments and improvements,"" Plant said.
To make improvements, Schauf said police use the Analyze and Response segments of SARA every year. The MPD said policing efforts would be just as diligent at Freakfest 2008 as they have in previous years.
