Congratulations! This year, the State St. Halloween celebration seems to have ended successfully! “Riots” at 1:43 am didn’t need to end in tear gas, and for that we owe the police department a great big “thank you!” And thanks to all the staff who spent their weekend working on this event. Now, let’s review some facts . . . .
Friday 2006: 10,000 people, 200 cops, 68 arrests
- 1 cop per 50 people
- 3 cops per arrest
- 1 arrest per 147 attendees
- How much $ from fines for the City of Madison?
Saturday 2006: 35,000 people, 250 cops, 145 arrest
- 1 cop per 140 people
- 1.72 cops per arrest
- 1 arrest per 241 attendees
- How much $ from fines for the City of Madison?
– 34,300 entry tickets distributed, of which 2,300 were complimentary for people who live or work on the street
- $160,000 for the City of Madison to cover the following costs:
- Police Department
- Equipment Rental $22,800 ($16,500 Lights, $6,300 Sound system)
- Facility Rental $18,968 ($15,000 University Inn, $3,968 Lowell Hall)
- Work Supplies $11,500 (Camera installation, lights, earpieces, OC Gas, etc.)
- Office Equipment $2,500
- Engineering Division
- General Equipment Supplies: $1,500 (Rental of construction fencing)
- Equipment Rental: $1,500 (Purchase of construction barrels)
- Parks Division
- Portable Toilets: $2,200 (Rental of 20 @ $110/unit $2,200)
- Equipment Rental: $1,400 (Rental of ticketing trailers)
- Security Services: $3,342
- Printing $10,000 ($6,000 info. banners, etc.; $4,000 purchase and printing of tickets)
- Armored Car Charges: $840
- Credit Card fees: $2,500
- Crowd Control Equipment $600 (hand stamps and pads)
- Hourly Wages: $4,400 (Additional temporary staffing for ticket sales)
- Benefits: $502 (For temporary staffing for ticket sales @ 11.4% of wages)
- TE Other Inter-Departmental $1,140 (Electrical hook-up for ticketing trailer(s)
- Plus, police overtime and staff planning costs. Last year, police staffing costs were:
- Overtime and Benefits: $126,492.43
- Premium Pay: $2,786.07
- Straight Time and Benefits: $188,448.82
- Total: $317,727.32
- 70,000 less attendees than last year
- How much less money for the local economy?
Total 2006: 45,000 people, 450 cops over 2 days, 230 (I realize that doesn’t add up, but that’s what the police are reporting) arrests
- 1 cop per 100 people
- 2 cops per arrest
- 1 arrest per 195 attendees
- How much $ from fines for the City of Madison?
Now, lets compare this to 2005 (WSJ or Cap Times)
Friday 2005: 25,000 people, 400 officers, 197 arrests
- 1 cop per 62 people
- 2 cops per arrest
- 11 arrest per 126 attendees
Saturday 2005: 100,000 people, 400 officers, 252 arrests
- 1 cop per 250 people
- 4.58 cops per arrest
- 1 arrest per 396 attendees
Total 2005: 125,000 people, 800 officers, 449 arrests (This year they are claiming 334 arrests last year, but that wasn’t what was reported at the time.)
- 1 cop per 156 people
- 1.78 cops per arrest
- 1 arrest per 278 attendees
So, how should we measure success this year?
Should it be by the standards that Mayor Cieslewicz sets out:
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz set three goals for this year’s celebration, and all three appear to have been met, he said in a statement early Sunday. There was no pepper spray, there was less over-consumption and the city made some money – about $150,000 through the estimated 32,000 tickets sold.
Or should it be by having less cops and less arrests per people in the crowd?
2006: Attendees were more likely to see a cop (1 cop per 100 people) as opposed to 2005 (1 cop per 156 people)
2006: Attendees were more likely to get arrested (1 arrest per 195 attendees) as opposed to 2005 (1 arrest per 278 attendees)
Perhaps its just a result of having more cops which means more arrests. Or maybe this year’s event was had more trouble makers, but I suspect the former.
And perhaps, we should re-examine if those goals laid out by the Mayor were actually met:
1. Yes, there was no pepperspray this year, that was a good thing. However, it appears that there were still the same “riots” and chants of “Ole, Ole” at 1:43, as in previous years.
2. I’m not sure how they are measuring “less over-consumption” but according to Mike Hanson at 1:19 last night detox was filled.
3. And yes, while we made $160,000 (32,000 x $5, tho they’re only reporting $150,000) on ticket sales, we likely made less money on arrests, so are less likely to have a positive fiscal bottome line. (Which, for the record, I count less numbers of arrests as a good thing, but am disturbed by the higher number of arrests per people in attendance.)
Anyways, there’s alot that doesn’t add up. And while I’m glad that there was no pepperspray this year, we still have significant problems before us . . . because the City of Madison can’t continue to sponsor this event and there isn’t enough money to be made for someone else to do it unless the City heavily subsidizes it or we use significantly less police officers.
