PACE: Drink-special limits may be linked to crime decline
A voluntary effort by 25 downtown Madison bars to limit weekend drink specials coincides with declines in liquor-law violations and disorderly-conduct incidents during the first six months of the program, according to new data from the UW–Madison’s PACE Project.
Formerly known as the RWJ Project, PACE (which stands for Policy, Alternatives, Community and Education) is in the seventh year of a comprehensive campus-community partnership designed to reduce the negative consequences of high-risk drinking.
Enforcement data collected from the Madison Police Department and the UW Police Department during the period of Oct. 1 to March 31 shows that incidents of disorderly conduct on Friday nights decreased by 35 percent, compared to the same period in 2001-2002.
Incidents of vandalism on Friday nights decreased by 28 percent compared to 2001-2002. Liquor-law violations decreased by 16 percent.
On Saturday nights, liquor-law violations and disorderly-conduct incidents also decreased, by 2 percent and 8 percent, respectively. Incidents of vandalism increased by 28 percent compared to the same period in 2001-2002.
Both police departments say that enforcement levels and reporting methods have remained consistent between 2001 and 2003. An incident is defined as any time police responded to a crime, whether through a call or patrol. A night is defined as the time period of 6 p.m. through 4 a.m. the following morning.
Beginning Sept. 20, members of the Dane County Tavern League agreed to voluntarily forgo the sale of drink specials after 8 p.m. PACE Director Susan Crowley says the declines are a promising indicator that these limitations can be an effective part of making downtown safer.
“These initial results show that downtown has become a safer place,” Crowley says. “Quite simply, that’s good news for everyone. While we can’t absolutely say that the limits caused the declines, this is an interesting development that we wouldn’t want to turn away from.”
PACE believes that cheap drinks fuel over-consumption, which frequently leads to serious problems such as violence, vandalism and sexual assault. Prior to the Tavern League effort, PACE had asked the Common Council to consider an ordinance limiting drink specials after 8 p.m.
Crowley says that it is unclear why significant declines did not appear on Saturday nights. Anecdotal data shows that people may drink for different reasons on Friday nights compared to Saturdays. “We know that Saturday drinking is frequently fueled by sporting events, for example,” she says. “But in any case, it’s encouraging that the drink special limitation appears to have an impact.”
UW–Madison Chancellor John Wiley says he applauds the partnership among the university, city and Tavern League, and he hopes that a productive collaboration can continue.
“This is an example how the university, city and business community can come together to solve problems that affect us all,” Wiley says.
Downtown establishments that didn’t offer late-night specials Fridays and Saturdays include: Amy’s Cafe, Angelic, Buffalo Wild Wings, Bull Feathers, Brothers, City, Club Amazon, Irish Pub, Kollege Klub, Mad Dogs, Madhatters, Nitty Gritty, Plaza, State Bar, State Street Brats, Stillwaters, Vintage Spirits, Wando’s, Spices, Paul’s Club, Lava Lounge, Red Shed, The Pub and Mondays.
Aaron Brower, a UW–Madison professor of social work and principal investigator for the PACE Project, says he hopes the Tavern League will consider asking additional members to join the voluntary program while also extending it to Thursdays, a night during which many students frequent area taverns and bars. Thursday nights, which were not included in the voluntary drink-special effort, saw a 40 percent increase in liquor-law violations over 2001-2002.
“As we’ve monitored this initiative over the past six months, it’s great that Madison tavern owners stuck with it and made a good-faith effort to make these voluntary limits work,” Brower says. “We hope that other establishments might follow the lead.” Stated definitions of what constitutes a drink special would also be beneficial, he says.
Other factors to consider in the initial analysis of voluntary limits are house parties and the role of the Wisconsin Union, which expanded its academic year hours to offer more late-night options for students.
“Our data didn’t find any increase in problems either around the Union or in the house party areas of town,” Brower says. “So, the limits do not appear to be simply displacing crime from the downtown area. Other areas of the city are not seeing a significant increase in drinking-related problems.”
In addition to drink specials, PACE is addressing three other major priorities:
- Improving house party safety
- Exploring the possibility of parental involvement to address high-risk drinking
- Clarifying and publicizing university policies and expectations of student conduct
PACE data information
- Downtown crime data: Assembled by compiling liquor-law violations, and disorderly-conduct and vandalism incidents from MPD and UWPD through the use of a Geographic Information System.
- Both departments report enforcement levels and reporting methods remained consistent between 2001 and 2003.
- The data includes downtown, consisting of the Isthmus, bounded by North Brooks Street on the west to Franklin Street on the east. The area includes all of the UW- Madison campus area, West Washington and Langdon streets, but excludes Regent Street.
- Liquor-law violation incidents include trips to detox, fake identification, underage person consuming, open intoxicants on public property, intoxicated persons and underage persons in licensed premises.
- Disorderly-conduct incidents include fights, batteries, aggravated batteries, disorderly conducts, trespassing and threats/harassment.
- Vandalism incidents include defacing property, damage to residential property, buildings and automobiles.