PACE study: Serious alcohol-related crime continues to rise

A voluntary effort by downtown Madison bars to limit drink specials on Friday and Saturday nights has been inconclusive, and serious alcohol-related crime continues to rise, according to a new analysis of downtown police calls.

The findings come from a study conducted by UW–Madison’s PACE Coalition. The group conducted the study as part of an evaluation of a 2002 Tavern League voluntary limit on drink specials after 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

Formerly known as the RWJ Project, PACE (which stands for Policy, Alternatives, Community and Education) is in the seventh year of a comprehensive campus and community partnership designed to reduce the negative consequences of high-risk drinking.

The voluntary effort began in September 2002 with 25 downtown bars that pledged not to offer or advertise drink specials. After one year, 19 continue to do so. There are a total of 52 bars and 168 liquor licenses in the downtown area.

It is not clear whether the voluntary limits had any impact on the number of downtown police calls, says Aaron Brower, the project’s principal investigator and a UW–Madison professor of social work.

“If the voluntary restrictions that the bars tried had any effect at all – positive or negative – it was swamped by the increases in problems going on in the downtown area,” says Brower. “Most troubling, our data show that the most serious offenses have increased the most.”
The study found:

– Incidents of downtown disorderly conduct, made up of serious incidents such as fights, aggravated batteries and assaults, have risen the most when comparing the 2001-2002 academic year to the 2002-2003 academic year. Calls for those incidents jumped 35.6 percent from Thursday to Saturday, compared to a 6.2 percent rise citywide. Thursday nights saw a 26 percent increase, Friday nights saw a 38 percent increase and Saturday nights saw a 38.4 percent increase.

– Downtown citations for liquor law violations decreased 1.8 percent from Thursday through Saturday nights, compared to a decrease of 14.9 percent citywide. Downtown liquor law violations jumped 40.4 percent on Thursday nights, decreased 22.3 percent Friday nights and increased 6.8 percent on Saturday nights during the 2001-2002 to 2002-2003 period.

– Downtown vandalism rose 1.2 percent across Thursday through Saturday nights while it jumped almost 23 percent across the city. Downtown vandalism increased 27.8 percent on Thursday nights, decreased 28.8 percent on Friday nights and increased 22.4 percent on Saturday nights.

– The study showed no significant increases in alcohol-related incidents anywhere else in the city, including in the student housing areas known for large house parties.

Despite inconclusive results from the voluntary limits, PACE continues to advocate limits on drink specials. National studies show that cheap alcohol fuels over-consumption. Brower says that over-consumption is directly linked to crimes such as vandalism, fights and sexual assault.

“We continue to believe that these crimes in the downtown area are fueled by cheap alcohol readily available there,” Brower says.

“Despite all of the new residential and cultural development downtown, the city still has its work cut out for it when attempting to change the environment around alcohol,” he adds.

In the future, PACE will continue to push for policy changes that are likely to have a significant impact, including examination of alcohol pricing and advertising, viable alternatives to drinking, safe house parties and other “best practices” recently recommended to Madison’s Alcohol License Review Committee.

Charts detailing PACE data can be found at http://pace.uhs.wisc.edu/http://pace.uhs.wisc.edu/

PACE DATA INFORMATION

– Downtown crime data: Assembled by compiling liquor law violations, disorderly conduct incident and vandalism incident information from the Madison Police Department. The incidents included students, Madison residents and visitors.

– Although voluntary limits did not extend to Thursday night, the night was included in the evaluation as a heavy drinking night and as a comparison to the voluntary restriction nights.

– The Madison Police Department did not report any systematic changes in enforcement levels and reporting methods between 2001 and 2003.

– The data includes downtown, consisting of the Isthmus, bounded by N. Brooks Street on the west to Franklin Street on the east. The area includes all of the UW–Madison campus area, W. Washington Avenue and Langdon Street, but excludes Regent Street.

– The reporting year used runs from the beginning of September to the end of August.

– 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, and damage to residential property, buildings and automobiles.