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MPD monitoring pub crawl
MPD monitoring pub crawl
MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Milwaukee police say the rainy and chilly weather worked in their favor.
Police say the weather kept people on the Shamrock Shuffle bar crawl inside the bars on Saturday, rather than outside on the streets.
Fox 6 tagged along with officers as they popped by Water Street bars, making sure rules were being followed.
“Make sure you’re not going above capacity,” Officer Adam Bradley warned one bouncer.
Outside the bars, officers tried to keep the increasingly drunken crowd safe from themselves.
“People stopping and blocking the sidewalks, running against traffic, getting hit by cars and fighting,” said Bradley.
As of 10 p.m. on Saturday, officers were handing out mostly municipal citations, for problems like fighting or disorderly conduct.
Earlier in the day, the Shamrock Shuffle overtook North Avenue, too. UW-Milwaukee students migrated down from campus to fill in bars and wait in lines.
“We hope to represent the school in a positive way, and not do anything bad,” said student Ryan Guetzow.
The crowd shuffled past kiddie pools filled with bottled water, and event security standing at all the major intersections. From the beginning of the event, police made their presence known. A command center was set up at North and Bartlett near the McDonald's.
“We wanted to get a footprint out there earlier this year to set the tone in the neighborhood,” said Capt. Stephen Basting.
Some neighbors in nearby Murray Hill left their homes Saturday to avoid the crowds. John Bleidorn recalls the condition his home was left in last year.
“The front yard here was full of litter, and the second floor porch had several beer cans on it. So they must have tossed it from the sidewalk,” said Bleidorn.