Milwaukee police are cracking down on illegal house parties near the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus, they said.

Over the weekend of Jan. 27, police issued over 200 alcohol violation tickets at five parties in the area, according to Milwaukee Police Department Public Relations Manager Anne Schwartz.

Schwartz said 135 tickets were issued for consumption or possession of alcohol by an underage person, 85 were given for alcohol sales to underage people and some were handed out for other drug charges.

"It's an escalading problem, and people in the neighborhood say it's getting worse," Schwartz said. "We're going to be out there every weekend."

She said this does not mean an increase in police patroling of the Marquette area, since neighborhood complaints of UWM's magnitude have not been made.

Capt. Russell Shaw, associate director of the Marquette Department of Public Safety, said nothing to the size of the UWM party break-ups has occurred at Marquette recently.

Shaw said there are a few reasons why Marquette experiences fewer party violation issues than UWM. He cited more student than residential housing around Marquette's campus and Public Safety acting as a liaison between the Milwaukee police and students as reasons for the difference.

"We respond to calls first and usually give a warning to calm things down," Shaw said. "But at UWM, MPD is the first to deal with it."

Increasingly, overcrowded parties at UWM may be occurring partly because of the university's housing shortages, but Schwartz said the police have no way of knowing how many partiers were actually students at the university.

Amy Watson, community coordinator at UWM, said another reason for the escalading party problems is the increase in students who now live near campus.

"UWM has become more of a destination campus," Watson said. "We used to have almost all commuter students, but over the past 10 years that has really decreased."

Watson said her job was created three years ago to deal with neighborhood issues. She meets with the neighborhood communities and is seeking other ways to help deter students from having and attending out-of-control parties.

"We are investigating (and) initiating campus punishments for this kind of thing," she said. "We currently don't have the ability to do that. It's technically off campus, so it's not in our jurisdiction."

Justin, a UWM sophomore, said police stopped at his house on Jan. 29. The tenant of Frederick Street asked not to have his full name and address disclosed to aviod further disciplinary action. He said he and his roommates were having a party when undercover police officers came into the house and issued tickets for underage drinking and operating an illegal tavern.

"It wasn't supposed to be as big as it was," Justin said. "It escalated into something bigger with people we didn't know." He said the party was devoid of alcohol by the time police came and breathalyzer tests were not administered.

Justin said he and three of his roommates received a $343 tickets for operating an illegal tavern. He said he was later mailed a $3,952 ticket for selling alcohol to 26 people who admitted to buying cups.

"I just find it kind of ridiculous that to make a point they're going to give one person a $4,400 ticket," he said.

Schwartz stressed that the tickets were not issued only to make a point. "We're not talking about students having a naïve little beer party here," she said. "We're talking about illegal money-making taverns." She added the illegal aspect of the parties is not the only problem.

"When these parties let out you have property damage, battery and sexual assault," Schwartz said.

Justin said he felt the party break-ups came out of nowhere and expects students will be hesitant to have them again soon.

"People are going to be scared to have house parties because they don't need that kind of fine," he said.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 10 2005.