MPD’s Special Events Team meets with the Central district’s CPAB

On April 10 Madison Police Department's Special Events Team (SET) leaders met with Central District Community Policing Advisory Board members to discuss SET’s history, goals, and philosophy and put the call out for Community Dialogue Representatives on behalf of SET’s Community Dialogue Team.

SET is charged with managing large groups and events in Madison, protecting citizens’ freedom to assemble and speak while ensuring public safety. Guiding their approach is the recognition of our Constitutional right to assemble as well as the position that the role of police during large events is to remain impartial, have dialogue, and protect people first and property second.

Within SET is the Community Dialogue Team (CDT), which aims to have effective, proactive communication with members of the community organizing planned events or taking part in unplanned events. The CDT was an outgrowth of recommendations made in a 2021 Sentinel Event Review by the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice.

Representatives from SET and CDT answered Advisors’ questions and discussed their role in upcoming events, including the April 27 Mifflin Street Block Party and the 2024 Republican National Convention, to be held in Milwaukee in July 2024, with related events taking place in Madison.